A Simple Wish
by IronSpark
Summary: This is the story of Mark, a new yorker who is transported to Equestria and begins life anew. These are his adventures in Equestria and in love. A story I was inspired to write after reading some other fan fiction. I'm a brony, and wanted to write as such. This is purely for my writing enjoyment and I hope you enjoy it as well. Rated M for some Adult content later on
1. Chapter 1

**A story I was inspired to write after reading some other fan fiction. I'm a brony, and wanted to write as such. This is purely for my writing enjoyment and I hope you enjoy it as well. That being said. This chapter is mainly background. Chapter 2 will be up sometime later this week 9/14/12**

"Stop staring at him and RUN!" someone yelled.

They didn't have to tell me twice, I took off. But can you really blame me for staring? It was my first time ever seeing a manticore. I mean if you saw an eight foot tall lion with a scorpion's tail and wings, wouldn't you stare too?

I don't think I've ever run so fast in my life, but looking back at my life, I haven't really done much running. In fact, I don't ever remember running before I came here. As I looked over my shoulder the manticore was catching up…and fast. I looked down the trail and hoped for something to slow it down. Nothing. I saw my friend Applejack running down the trail in front of me. Even in our present situation, she had a certain seductive grace as she ran. She really is a beautiful po-

"Hey Sparky!" I heard Dash yell from above me "You can fly remember?"

"Oh yeah…" I mumbled as I was still running, "Hey I knew that!" I yelled back up at her.

She just rolled her eyes, "Sure you did!"

I quickly stretched out my wings and started flapping, slowly but surely I started picking up some speed and rising off the ground. I flew over Applejack, hooked my front hooves under her shoulders, and took off.

Now I know what you must be thinking, "So you have wings? And hooves? What the hell are you?" Well I'm human, or should I say was human. Let me just start back at the beginning.

My name is Mark, I'm 18 years old. And I'm living in New York City, that's right, the Big Apple. Unfortunately it wasn't that great. I was orphaned very young when both my parents were killed by a drunk driver as we all were driving home from a late night trip to the grocery store. I was about 5. I managed to survive but both my legs were damaged beyond repair, so I had to use crutches as well as have metal rods tied to my legs. After filing through the foster system, and various foster homes that never really felt like a home. I just ended up a cripple on the street. And for some reason it was better than a foster home, I never had to talk to anyone, something I never liked doing anyway, and I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I slept where I wanted and ate what I wanted.

One of my favorite things was going to central park early in the morning before it got crowded and watching the ducks swim on the ponds. It just made me feel good, you know that strange warm feeling you get when someone tell you they love you, or seeing someone you really missed, you know, happy. I would watch them fly away and wish that I could leap up and join them.

I begged and did whatever work I could to make money and bought only what I needed, food, clothes, and the like. All the other money I gave to people on the streets too weak or sick to work. That was another thing that made me happy.

Eventually I got sick as well, I went to the hospital but I couldn't afford the medicine, they said I had something called tuberculosis. I was dying and I knew it. All the nurses had tears in their eyes as I walked out, I smiled at them and told them not to worry. I mean I wasn't really worrying, why should they?

I spent the next few days gathering up as much money as I could, I wanted to do something special for myself, you know like make-a-wish but I was the giver and the receiver. So after gathering about $50 I walked all the way to Coney Island. I've heard a lot of people talk about it and how awesome it was and I had to see it for myself.

The late autumn afternoon was gorgeous; I walked down the boardwalk and treated myself to whatever I wanted. That was the last time I really felt happy. I had just a few loose coins left in my pocket. I walked to the end of the boardwalk and watched the waves and looked up at the stars.

I heard a loud bang from behind me and turned to see an old fortune telling machine that looked like it had been there for decades. But it was lite up and making noises so I took the three quarters out of my pocket and glanced down at them and ran my fingers over them, then I looked back up at the machine.

"Why the hell not?" I said to myself with a chuckle

I walked up to the machine and slid the first quarter in, nothing happened, so I put another one in, and it started to light up some more, after I slid the last one down the slot it was almost too bright to look at.

There was a clear crystal ball in the middle of the machine that was glowing. I stared into it hoping for something to magical to happen, nothing did, just a small bell rang and a slip of paper shot out of a slot right below the coin slot and fell to the boardwalk, I quickly bent over and picked it up, as I flipped it over it was blank.

"Great" I thought, "just the way to end my night"

I was about to crumple the paper and toss it when I looked back at where the machine was and it had disappeared. I quickly scanned the area to check to see if I had just missed it, but it was gone. I looked back at the paper in my hands and flipped it over. It said in plain print.

MAKE A WISH

I looked back out over the waves as I shoved the paper into my pocket. The calls of seagulls sounded overhead.

I started to say aloud "I want to run and fly away from here to somewhere ne-"

I was cut off by my body as I started coughing uncontrollably, I looked down into my hands that I used to cover my mouth, there were covered in blood. I don't know what happened next but everything went black.

**Hope you people enjoyed, remember to R&R if you liked, and follow me as well.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The second chapter of my "A Simple Wish" story. Hope you enjoy, let the pony madness BEING**

As I came to I slowly started looking around me. Somehow I went from the Coney Island boardwalk to the middle of this huge forest. It was early morning, the sky was completely cloud free and the air smelt unimaginably clean and crisp. I was surrounded by trees that had to be at least 50 feet tall, they provided a thick canopy on either side of the dirt road I was on. I slowly got up and went to brush myself off with my hands but fell flat on my face. I rolled over onto my back and brought my hands up to my face, they felt different, I looked at them, they weren't hands they were…hooves?

I quickly looked down at the rest of my body, I had four legs! And a tail!

I stood up shakily and looked around for something that I could see myself in, a lake, pond, or something! I saw a small stream by the side of the road and stumbled my way over and fell once again face first, this time into the water. I yanked my head out and stared into the water. As the ripples started to settle I saw a small horse looking back at me, not really a horse, more like a pony or something like that.

I brought my right hand, er, hoof up and waved at the pony in the water and he waved back. I stuck out my tongue and he did the same. I splashed water as him and he vanished. I stood up, dripping water from my face and shoulders.

"Note to self, no splashing reflections with water." I mumbled as I shook the water off.

I stopped and looked at the water again. This time I angled myself so that I could see all of myself. And a smoky black pony posed in the water next to me. He had a dark black mane that was a little on the long and shaggy side, and a tail of the same color and shagginess with a dark yellow and a deep red stripe down it. His eyes were a bright white with dark dull red, almost scarlet, irises and big black pupils. His hooves had thick black band at the end of his legs. On his hip I noticed that he looked like he had something missing almost, but I couldn't figure it out. He also had wings that were outlined a bit darker than his body. Oh and one more thing, that pony, is me.

I jumped away from that stream and started pacing in circles.

"This can't be happening! I must be hallucinating" I reasons to myself. "Yes that's it, I passed out on the pier and I'm going to wake up in a nice comfy hospital bed" I smiled at the thought of a nice bed and some food. My stomach growled. I needed to find some food.

"Ok" I said aloud for some reason, "I'll find some food first, then I'll deal with the fact that I'm a horse…pony…thing" I started trotting off down the road. Did I just say trotting? I stopped and looked down at my legs.

"My legs!" and I jumped around, simply because I could "I can walk!" and I started off down quickly with a big smile on my face and soon was picking up speed. "This is great" I thought, "I don't care that I'm a horse, I can walk!" Then a great idea came into mind "But, can I run?" I put everything I had into my new legs and was off. It felt surprisingly natural to be running around with four legs and all. Soon I was cruising down the road at a good pace for a while when I suddenly realized how tired I was. I slowed down and tried to catch my breath.

"To hell with New York, I like running, I don't ever want to wake up!" I announced to the trees around me with pride. My stomach grumbled again. "Right, food…"

As I continued to trot down the road I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of food. Soon enough I came to what looked like an old fence that came up to about mid chest on me. Just on the other side of the fence was some trees with the greatest looking apples I have ever seen. I easily hopped the fence and looked up into the tree.

"How the heck am I going to get up there?" I said aloud, I then looked around. "I need to stop talking to myself." I looked down at my legs and decided to try them out at climbing. I jumped up and tried grabbing onto a branch, but I couldn't get a grip and slid off and fell straight onto my back.

"Ow, that really hurt my wings" I said to myself again, then quickly facepalm...facehooved.

"Duh, I have WINGS" I got up and looked back over my shoulder. "Ok" I thought to myself, "Just need to, fly, shouldn't be too hard" I mentally commanded my wings to open up and they unfurled and stood ready for action. "Okay wings…FLY" I mentally yelled, soon I was flapping like crazy and soon I found myself rising into the air, and from someone who walked, ran, and flew in one day, this is awesome.

Soon I rose above the trees. I then mentally commanded my wings to stop and sure enough they did, "Good" I thought, "oh wait, not good" I managed to mumble as I plummeted straight into the apple tree below.

"Fantastic" I grumbled as I rubbed my face, "I probably hit five branches on the way in." My pain was soon forgotten as I saw a shiny red apple right in front of me. I reached out and picked and quickly bit into it. It was the best apple I've ever had! It was so sweet and delicious. I finished it off and started grabbing more. After I ate about twenty of them my stomach was stuffed. I lay back in the tree and started to fall asleep when all of a sudden I heard a voice.

"What in tarnation do ya think yer doin' in my tree?"

**Hope you enjoyed it, remember to R&R and feel free to PM me with any questions, comments, concerns, or CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, or any ideas you have of some good plot devices/story ideas. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hope you guys/gals have been enjoying the story so far. Im gonna try to keep uploading chapters every day to three days so make sure you fav and follow.**

"What in tarnation do ya think yer doin' in my tree?"

My eyes shot open and I looked down to see an orange pony wearing a straw hat looking up at me. She did not look happy.

"Quit yer starin' and get down here!" She yelled

I had to get out of here and fast. I looked up and started climbing up through the tree following the path I made when I crashed down into the tree.

"Don't you try gettin' away from me!" She continued to yell up at me.

I couldn't even come up with something to yell back at her, I was way too busy trying not to get caught. Once I hit the top of the tree I stretched out my wings and started mentally yelling at my wings to fly.

Soon enough I was lifting away from the trees and was almost in the clear when all of a sudden I heard a whoosh from below and looking down I saw a rope around my back left leg. I couldn't fly any further no matter how hard I pulled. I stopped and followed the rope back down with my eyes where that orange pony was standing next to an apple tree with that rope tied around it. She looked quite content with her work.

There was no way in hell I was going to let her win like that. I kept pulling as hard as I could but the rope only tightened on my leg. After a few minutes of that my leg was turning a dark purple.

There was no way this was going to work, so I thought for a second and came up with a brilliant plan.

I flew as far as I could until the rope was tight, I looked over my shoulder at the orange pony who was looking especially happy with her work as she sat in the shade and happily munched on an apple. As soon as she looked away I pulled a 180 and flew straight at her as fast as I possibly could.

By the time she looked up it was too late, I was only feet away and as she stood up I flew several circles around the tree trapping her. After I felt content that she was firmly in place I took off in a straight line as fast as possible. I felt the rope tighten and snap. I looked back down at my leg to see a small amount of rope still on my leg. I was home free and I knew it. I looked up just in time to see the incoming tree.

Once I woke up my hooves immediately went to my face and I held myself and yelled out in pain "Why does it always have to be the face!" When I brought my hooves back down I saw that orange pony looking down at me. Now that I was up close I had a better look at her. She wasn't like a bright orange, more like a burnt orange, her head had a short shout which was covered in freckles. Her hair was messy but in that cute way like when you see a girl who's hair falls in place just the right way. On her hip were three apples, I guess ponies have tattoos just like humans do. Finally she had these deep jade green eyes that you sort of just got lost in. Once our eyes met she just kind of stared at me the way I was looking at her. Then all of a sudden it hit me.

Did I just call a pony "cute?" Man I really must have hit that tree hard.

I was the first to break the silence "Uhhhm, I'm really sorry for taking your apples."

She managed to mumble out "N-N-No problem…" and again there was that silence again. She started thinking to herself of how good looking this mysterious stallion was. I just was thinking to myself "Is there something on my face?"

I managed to get myself straightened out and stood up and turned to her "Well nice running into you, I guess." And turned and started to head back down the road. But she was right behind me.

"Hey wait just a gosh darn minute there!" I stopped and looked back.

She just walked up to me and put her hoof in my chest and started to chew me out.

"Who do you think you are just eating a bunch of my apples and trying to just strut off?"

That's a good question, who am I? I mean I know I'm Mark, the homeless kid from New York who passed out on a boardwalk and is now in ponyland or something like that.

She kept chewing me out but I wasn't paying any attention. I mean Mark isn't a very pony like name, I mean who has a pet named Mark? It's usually like something ending in like a Y or some type of food. Should I come up with a new name? Yeah that's probably a good idea. What should it be though?

I thought back to a time when I was little and I met this girl on one of the playgrounds in central park. We were both young and I told her my name, and she introduced herself as blondie. She told me I needed a cool nickname. So after she shot down all my ideas I just sat there and clicked the metal rods on my legs together. "That's it!" she yelled "Do that again!" so I clicked my legs together and a small spark popped out. "You can be sparky!" I liked it, had some meaning behind it…I miss that girl.

"So what do you have to say fer yourself?" the orange pony yelled, practically in my face

I stuck out my hoof out at her and said "I'm Spark."

**So what did you think? Not to bad eh? Remember to R&R and all that jazz. **


	4. Chapter 4

**This one is slightly longer than usual, but the same amount of nothingness happens, be patient, im getting there. Remember to R&R and Fav and Follow. As of uploading this i have 3 followers, i feel important.**

Applejack just looked at the strange pony who was holding out his hoof. She has never been a rude pony so she stuck her own hoof out and shook Spark's hand and introduced herself.

"Well howdy there Spark, my name is Applejack." She said with a smile, then quickly added in "And those were my apples you ate." She then quickly tightened her grip on his hand and waited for his answer.

"Er, well I'm sorry" I threw in quickly "I didn't know that they were anyone's, is there any way I could repay you?"

Applejack thought of a few ways he could repay her, she just had to get him somewhere a little more secluded. "No" she said to herself.

"What?" I asked

"Oh nothing," she quickly shot out. "Iffin you're really offering to repay me back then you can come into town with me and carry all of the things I get." She started to trot off down the road with her head held high.

I really didn't have much of a choice now did I? I quickly hurried up and caught up to her.

"Wait so there's a town here? As in more of you?"

She looked over her shoulder and asked with a puzzled look on her face "What do you mean 'more of me?' you aren't from around here are you?"

"It's that obvious?"

"Yes'sir." She said with a smile. "Where are you from?"

I hurried to come up with an answer, I couldn't come up with anything, I've never been out of New York so I told her the truth. "I'm from Manhattan."

"You mean Manehattan?" she asked while cocking an eyebrow

"Uhh, sure." I shrugged, might as well role with it.

"So you're one of them city-slicker ponies?" She said with a smile

"I guess you could call me that." I didn't know what else to say "But I never really liked it there, so I moved out here." I needed to change topics before she figured me out. I looked back and saw those three apples again. "So I like your tattoo."

"What's a tattoo?" She asked with the same puzzled look as before

"What's that on you hip then?"

She glanced back to where I was referring and stated informatively "You mean on my flank? That's my cutie mark. Everypony has one, well almost everypony." She stopped and pointed to my "flank"

"I guess I need to get one then don't I"

"Yessin you most certainly do! A cutie mark is everything to a pony, it's their entire identity!"

"Wow no pressure there."

"Oh calm yerself, once you figure out your special talent, you'll get your own cutie mark. Some ponies just take longer that's all."

I felt like she was calling me a child, it didn't matter I just needed to pay this pony back what I owed her and I would be on my way. We soon arrived at what looked like a farm and we walked through the front gate.

"Hey Apple? What gives? I thought you said we were going into town?"

She turned and looked at me, she was blushing. "I like it when you call me that." I didn't even know how to react to that except that I felt my face grow warm. "Well what are we doing here?"

"This is my family's farm, Sweet Apple Acres, I just need to grab something before we head into town." I quickly scanned the area and was impressed "Very nice." I said out loud to myself. As I turned away from Applejack I felt a big weight on my shoulders. I looked over my shoulder and saw that I was hooked up to large cart behind me.

"Great, why don't you just strap on the rods?" I mumbled.

"Sorry there honey, you did offer to repay me."

Why do I always get myself into situations like this?

About 20 minutes later we pulled into a moderate sized town. Actually I pulled, Applejack just sat in the cart and said nothing the entire way, I'm almost positive she just stared at me the entire way. Kind of creepy but then again, things might be different here in ponyland than back home.

Ponyville, I think it was called, was pretty beautiful, the multicolored houses and open shops really gave off a welcoming feeling.

"Well Spark, welcome to Ponyville, the nicest place in all of Equestria." Applejack said proudly as she hopped off the cart and strutted by me.

"Equestria? Is that where we are?" I asked

"Shore' is, everything around you is Equestria, all the way from Manefornia to Manehattan where you're from." She stated oh so matter-o'-factly

"Ok, geography lesson aside, what do we need to get here?" I asked whilst trying to get the cart off of me.

"Well first off, you better keep that cart on otherwise you'll be carrying everything by hoof." She started to trot off.

"Got it, big heavy cart, stays on." I sighed as I walked behind her.

"First we need to stop at Sugar Cube Corner to grab some of Pinkie's famous blueberry cupcakes." She licked her lips just thinking about it.

"Ok, sounds good…who's Pinkie?" I swear if my special talent is asking questions I better get my own game show or something.

"Oh shoot I forgot, you're new to the area, well I'll introduce you to everypony as we go. Pinkie Pie is the owner of Sugar Cube Corner, one of the best bakers out there, and one of my closest friends." She exclaimed as she walked into the front of the nearest store.

"Hey Apple, I can't follow you in there with this cart on!" I yelled after her. Great, looks like I'm getting this thing off by myself. I wiggled, and I jumped, I tried to fly, and finally I just bucked enough to fall out of the harness…and onto my face.

'ouch' I thought to myself as I cleaned myself up and walked inside. Only to see a pink pony wind up and hit me in the face with a pie. When I opened up eyes only to see that pink pony, Pinkie I'm assuming laughing and rolling around on the floor. I stuck my tongue out and tried licking as much off my face as I could. "Mmmmm, banana cream." It was delicious. I picked up the pie tin off the ground and licked it clean. I looked up to see Pinkie only a few feet away looking at me with a huge smile like she was waiting for something. "Um, hi?"

She practically yelled at me "So how was it? Huh? Huh? Was it scrum-diddle-e-umpsious?"

I smiled and replied "It was great! Applejack wasn't lying when she said you were one of the best bakers ever!"

Pinkie just smiled even bigger and held her head high. "That's Applejack for you, one of the most honest ponies ever." I looked over to Applejack and she just smiled at me and lightly kicked the floor. "Aww, shoot Pinkie, ya'll don't have to embarrass me like that in front of him like that." She came over a helped get the rest of the pie out of my fur and mane.

Pinkie turned and smiled, "Well my work here is done, I need to make some more pies before any other hungry ponies show up." She trotted off into the back room and I heard some singing.

"You'll get used to her, she's a little bit of a scatterbrain." AJ finished in a whisper "Oh there's still some pie on you. Let me get it." She leaned in close and lightly licked my cheek. Man that felt great.

She pulled back and was blushing furiously, I probably was too. I still can't get over the fact that I think this orange pony is cute.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Pinkie burst through the door and came inches form my face. "You're new in town aren't you?" "I sure am, I'm spark and I stuck out my hoof." She grabbed it with both her front hooves and shook it until my leg felt like it was gonna come off. All the while Pinkie was cheering "Hi spark I'm Pinkie, it's so very nice to meet you, you're new so that means I get to through you a PARTY!"

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	5. Chapter 5

**Stories are gonna be coming out a little slower, lots o' work to be done elsewhere. Hope you guys enjoy this next installment of A Simple Wish. Feel free to leave a review yelling at me for what I'm doing wrong, right, etc. or just feel free to PM me and say "Hi".**

Pinkie bolted out of the door while yelling out loud a long list of things she was going to need for the party.

"Well looks like yer gonna have yer night full with Pinkie's party." Applejack announced, she almost sounded disappointed, and for some reason I could relate. But I've never really ever had a party thrown for me before, back when I was a kid, my foster parents never really paid that much attention to me, let alone throw a party for me on my birthday. There was no way I was missing this, I owed it to myself.

"So what do we do until then?" I asked her while cleaning up the empty pie tin off of the ground.

"Well we still have to finish shopping and all of that." Applejack replied as she started walking out the door. I followed her outside, and she there was a box of cupcakes sitting on the cart. I walked back under the harness and AJ threw the strap over my shoulders and we headed more towards the center of town. Once we got there she unstrapped me and we went from shop to shop, conversing with all the shop keepers, doing business, and loading everything onto the cart. And ultimately, onto my back.

What was a quick 20 minute trip into town, took us nearly an hour to get back to Sweet Apple Acres. AJ didn't exactly help, she just walked in front of me the whole time, and I did have to admit that time went by a little quicker when I had something to look at. Did I just say that? I really need to stop this, I'm human, I can't be attracted to a pony, regardless if I'm one now.

When we arrived back at her farm, Applejack and I unloaded all the food, a few craft materials for "Granny Smith," and some school supplies for someone named Applebloom.

"Whew!" sighed Applejack as she took off her straw hat and wiped her forehead and replaced her hat. "Would you care for some Equestrian Famous Apple Family Apple Cider?"

I wasn't one to refuse an offer so I gladly accepted. We walked into the house and as I reached to open the door for her, being the gentleman that I am, the door swung open and an elderly green pony with soft red eyes, a white mane and tail. I looked down to see a smaller pony, off whitish and yellow in color with a soft red colored mane with a big pink bow, and the same red colored tail. Her eyes were almost peach in color.

"Hiya!" the little pony exclaimed, the older pony just sort of closed her eyes and smiled while saying "Oh why hello there youngster!"

Applejack took over "Spark these are my little sister Applebloom and my Granny Smith. Granny, Applebloom, this is Spark." She said pointing to me. "My older brother, Big Mac, is probably out in the fields working, you can meet him later."

I looked over them again and noticed that Granny Smith had an apple for a cutie mark. I guess their whole family was apple-centric. I looked down to see that Applebloom didn't have a cutie mark though. "So it looks like you and I are in the same boat huh Applebloom?" I pointed back to my bare flank.

She gasped quite loudly and practically started cheering "So you haven't found your cutie mark either? You should come with me and the cutie mark crusaders and we can all find our cutie marks together!" I looked over to Applejack for confirmation and she quickly shook her head.

"Uh no thanks, I'll take a rain check on that." I tried to say without sounding like I was blowing her off.

"Oh alrighty, another time then?" She said with a glint in her eye "Sure, why not?" Applejack just sort of smiled while trying to hold back a laugh. This wasn't going to be good.

"Well, we'll see ya'll later, Pinkie is throwing a party to welcome Spark to town an I promised her I'd have him back before the sun went down." I looked up and saw the sun beginning to set. Man, that's a sight you don't get back in New York, those big skyscrapers just get in the way. But out on Coney Island, that was something else. "Well we better get going then." I said quietly while trying to tear myself away from the sights. "I'll see you two around." I waved goodbye and Applejack and I headed back into town.

About halfway back I tried to strike up a conversation "You know I never got that Equestrian-Famous apple cider you promised." She just smiled and blushed while saying "I'm sure you'll be tasting something just as sweet tonight." Does she mean what I think she means? I felt my face growing hot so I just looked straight ahead and we walked in silence until we reached Sugar Cube Corner.

I walked in behind AJ and as soon as I cleared the doorway I was greeted with another pie, this time cherry. I licked my face and tasted it, "Mmm, good job Pinkie, this is just as good as that banana cream pie." I used my hoof to wipe the pie out of my eyes and when I could finally see, I saw about 40 ponies all around me.

"SURPRISE!" They all yelled in unison. Overhead a banner read 'Welcome to Ponyville Spark'

"Wow there are a lot of ponies in here." I stated in awe

"Well no duh, Mr. obvious pants!" I knew that voice. I turned and say Pinkie standing there with 4 other ponies. I got a good look at Pinkie for the first time She was a light dull pink pony with wild intense pink hair and mane. She had sapphire blue eyes and a cutie mark that looked like 3 balloons.

Applejack took me over and began introducing me to the other 4 ponies. First up was Fluttershy, a yellow pegasus with a long flowing pink mane and tail, light blue eyes, and her cutie mark was some pink butterflies. She was pretty timid at first meeting me, but as we talked a bit she warmed up quickly.

Next was Rarity, a pure white Unicorn, yes I know what I said, UNICORN, she had a royal purple mane and tail, deep blue eyes, and 3 diamonds for a cutie mark. She seemed snobbish at first, but when she started offering to make me clothes at a huge discount, that first impression vanished.

Then came Twilight Sparkle, a purple unicorn, yes another one, with a dark purple, almost black, mane and tail. She had pink and purple streaks running through them, she had a pink star for a cutie mark. She was obviously the bookworm of the group and seemed a little unconfident, but was nice to talk to nonetheless.

Finally came Rainbow Dash, a light blue pegasus with a shaggy rainbow mane and tail, deep pink eyes, and a cloud and rainbow lightning bolt for a cutie mark. She came off pretty obviously as the most direct of the group. She seemed to take a liking to me pretty quickly. I mean really liking me, it was pretty uncomfortable actually. Applejack was giving me funny looks the whole time. I don't know much about girls, even less about female ponies, so I didn't realize anything else was going on.

A few hours later the party was winding down and I was feeling pretty tired, so I brought it up to Applejack.

"Hey Apple? Any chance I could find a place to crash?"

Her face lit up "Well sure if you want you can sleep-"

She didn't get a chance to finish, Rainbow Dash came out of nowhere and interrupted Applejack.

"Spark can stay at my place!" she announced to everyone at the party. The other girls except AJ accepted. Applejack started to say "But he was gonna stay with-" but again she was cut off "No, no I insist! Plus I can show him around tomorrow morning." I looked back at Applejack and she seemed really upset. So I went over to her.

"Don't worry about it Apple, I'll see you tomorrow." Then I did something that even surprised me. I leaned in and kissed her lightly on the cheek. When I pulled away we were both blushing furiously.

"C'mon Spark! Time to fly!" coaxed Rainbow Dash waving from the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay?" I told AJ

"Okay…" She smiled weakly, still blushing

**BOOM! Left field. Hope you guys/gals liked it. Feel free to R&R Fav&Follow.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I pumped this chapter out and I'm really happy I was able to not take a two chapters on this part like I thought I was going to. I did this instead of writing a paper...so enjoy it. R&R!**

Rainbow Dash and I left Sugar Cube Corner and flew slowly east, I looked up to see her silhouetted against the moon. It was an amazing sight. She looked down at me and caught me staring, a sly smile spread across her face. I quickly looked away and straight ahead and saw what looked like a big house shaped cloud.

Dash slowed down and landed gracefully on the clouds, I slowed and hovered above the clouds and gently prodded the cloud with my hoof. It felt solid like the ground, but also soft. I stopped my wings and dropped the several inches to the clouds and it felt like walking across some firm pillows. Man, if the streets in New York were like this I wouldn't have minded sleeping outside so much. She opened a cloud front door and dragged me inside when she saw I wasn't moving.

I have to admit, this place was amazing, the entire house was made of clouds, There was running water across the far wall in some sort of fountain, cloud couches and chairs, tables, and a cloud fireplace with a real open fire. I was quickly falling asleep. I felt my eyes start to grow heavy.

"Hey Dash? Where can I crash?" I asked as I continued looking around the floor for a good spot.

She looked at me like she was upset and pointed to a big lump of clouds "You can sleep on the couch." I was going to ask her what was wrong, but the clouds were calling. Almost as soon as I lay down, I was asleep.

I felt something warm next to me. I opened my eyes to see Rainbow Dash staring right at me, I her bright pink eyes were even brighter in the early morning light.

"I thought you were never going to wake up!" she said with a huge relief. "Uh, Rainbow, what are you doing?" She just shushed me and leaned in close and kissed me full on the lips. That caught me by surprise, my back was to a wall so I couldn't pull away. I felt something warm prod my lips, it was her tongue.

That was it, I pushed her away from me and off the couch. She jumped up and just smiled lustfully at me. She crouched down and pounced at me. I rolled towards her and off the couch, she missed me and went face first into the cloud couch. I ran to the other side of the room and looked back, she was slowly and seductively walking towards me. I needed to get out of here. I looked towards the open window on the far wall and flew for it. She did the same, but I quickly cut back towards the door, my original target. I beat her there, flung the door open, ran outside, and pulled the door closed behind me. I turned to see a pony with his hoof raised like he was about to knock on the door.

He was a royal blue pegasus with a rich dark blue mane, a golden yellow tail, and dark orange wings. He had a cutie mark that looked like a silver compass with golden wings that matched his tail. He had some goggles around his forehead. Guess he was a big flier. And some saddlebags over his flanks.

"Uhm, hello?" He asked whilst eying me up

"Oh hey!" I said whilst trying to keep the door closed. "What's up, I'm Spark." I extended one hoof and kept the other on the doorknob. He shook my hoof "Name's Storm Cloud." He said proudly.

"I'm looking for a pegasus named Rainbow Dash" I almost let go of the door. "Somepony in town said she lives here." A loud bang at the door. "Is everything okay?" He asked

"Sure is, yeah Rainbow Dash lives here, she's just inside in fact." Another loud bang.

"In there?" he asked, I just nodded, he seemed a little apprehensive.

I grabbed his hoof and dragged him to the door. "It was nice meeting you Cloud, hopefully I'll see you around. Say bye to Dash for me." I opened the door shoved him in and took off like a bullet. Now which way was Sweet Apple Acres?

[Cloud's POV]

Did that guy just lock me in here? I turned to see the cloudy house, it was dark, I caught a rainbow trail going to and fro up in the rafters.

"Hey Dashy!" I yelled. The rainbow suddenly bolted towards me and next thing I knew we were both going through the now broken front door. When we were outside on the ground I was on top of her. I looked down and asked "Dashy? Are you okay?"

She opened her eyes and looked hard at me for a few seconds before practically squealing out "Cloud!?" Good, she at least remembered me. She jumped up and gave me a big hug.

"I haven't seen you since flight school!" She spoke excitedly. Then she straightened out and punched me hard in the shoulder. "Ow! What was that for?" "For dropping out of flight school and leaving me alone!" She barked, obviously that wound hadn't healed yet.

"Sorry!" I apologized, "You know how much I hated it there." She just blushed and looked down at the ground. "You left me there." She said under her breath.

I lifted her chin up with my hoof and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Well I'm here now." She was blushing even more. "Now come on, let's go into town, I'll buy lunch."

**Anyone like Cloud? You better, he'll be here a while. R&R! Fav&Follow!**


	7. Chapter 7

[Spark's POV]

I took off from Rainbow Dash's house and went back towards the center of town, I had no clue where Sweet Apple Acres was in relation to Dash's house. I was soon in Ponyville, walking down the main street. The streets were empty, save a few ponies setting up shops and cleaning the roads.

There was another pony walking towards me that looked way different from the rest. She was white and black, striped. I've never seen one, but I once saw a magazine with an animal that looked really similar to her. I think it's called a zebra. I'm not sure though, like I said, I only saw it in a magazine.

She caught sight of me staring at me and made her way to me.

"Hello der' young one!" She said with a deep throaty voice, she almost sounded like my friend Tammy, who I think is Jamaican, or some sort of Caribbean. "You are one strange pony!" She said while glancing me over. "A blank flank mature pony, tis' truly interesting."

I had to come up with a response. "Uh, I guess I'm just taking my time finding my special talent." Man, that was lame.

"Hmmmm.." she continued glancing me over. "A ha!" She exclaimed, I was starting to get worried. She reached back into her saddlebag and pulled out a purple flower. Taking a few petals in her hoof she crushed them up and threw them over me. She seemed shocked, but then a big smile crept across black snout.

"What this is revealed by this simple flower, is the work of some great mystical power. A creature of Equestria you are not, be careful, for the pursuit become hot." After finishing her rhyme she sauntered off down the street.

I sat down in the street and rubbed my eyes.

"What the hell just happened?" I asked aloud. A green pony who was watching just shrugged his shoulders and continued sweeping in front of his shop. Note to self, stop talking to yourself out loud.

I looked back to the green pony "Hey, which way is Sweet Apple Acres?" I asked him. He pointed down the road that was between his shop and Sugar Cube Corner. I thanked him and took off running down the road.

I arrived at Apple Acres in a few minutes. I walked through the front gate and quickly saw Apple Bloom carrying some empty baskets towards the apple trees, I ran up to her.

"Oh Hiya Spark! What are yer' doin here?" She asked with bright eyes.

I was out of breath, "I ran….here….from town…need…to talk….to …Apple…Jack…" I gasped out.

"Why didn't you jus' fly?" I facehoofed at that. "Anyway AppleJack is in the south field." She pointed behind me.

"Thanks!" I told her as I headed the way she pointed.

It was enough to find her, I just had to follow the loud thumping sound.

She was kicking trees with both her hind legs, guessing that was what the sound was. When she kicked the tree every apple fell down into some baskets that were placed around the base of the tree. For some reason it amazed me how strong she was, I figured she was a country girl through and through, but damn she was strong. I made a mental note to not piss her off.

I got an idea, I flew up into the trees quietly and when she turned her back to where I was, I hovered just over her silently. I quickly placed my hooves over her eyes. Before I could say 'Guess who?' I got thrown off of her into a tree, face first of course.

"Again with the face!" I yelled rubbing my nose. When I moved my hoof, I saw that I had ended upside down against the tree. It actually wasn't that uncomfortable.

"Spark? What the hay are you doing here?" She asked while walking over to where I landed.

"What aren't you glad to see me?" I said through a big smile

"Well of course I'm glad to see yer, but weren't ya'll supposed to go to Cloudsdale with Dash?" She said while helping me up.

I just rubbed my neck and looked off in the distance. "I told her I should probably get to know Ponyville a little better first. She was okay with it." AJ just looked at me hard for a couple seconds then calmly asked.

"She tried kissing you didn't she?"

There was no use denying it. "Ya, she kissed me." AppleJack was angry, it wasn't hard to figure that out. She let out a long sigh. "It's okay, I figured that crazy mare would do somethin like that. She's had her on you since you got here." "She wasn't the only one though, right?" I asked her. She just blushed, I picked her chin up and kissed her on the lips. She tasted just like apples. I broke the kiss and opened my eyes to see her just standing there, eyes closed, longing for more. She finally open her eyes and when she saw me laughing just pulled her straw hat over her eyes and blushed.

"Aww, Come on Apple, no need to be embarrassed." I lifted up hat and just looked into her eyes.

"I was really hoping to get all this work done before ya came round." She mumbled.

"I'll help you finish it later. Let's go see if Pinkie has anything good for breakfast." I gave her a nudge and we headed into town.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone! How is everybody doing? Fantastic? Fantastic!**

**This chapter is a little on the shorter side (~700 words) not short short, but short for me. **

**I decided to make this a, for the most part, Storm Cloud centered chapter, it's not exactly filler like the last one seemed.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**UPDATE 10/1/12-A Simple Wish has just hit 1000 views. It may not be much but it feels like a good milestone. Thank you everyone!**

**UPDATE 10/3/12 - Just not in the mood for writing right now...sorry. Might be up by Sunday. Sorry Ladies and Gents**

Applejack and I arrived at Sugar Cube Corner a little later that I had expected, the walk was a little slow and a bit awkward.

It was nearing closer to lunch than breakfast. I opened the door for AJ and followed her in. I looked to see Dash rolling on the floor laughing and that blue pegasus from earlier, Storm Cloud I think, covered in pie. I couldn't help to laugh.

"Hey Pinkie!" I called out. "I think you need to identify your victims first." Pinkie stuck her head up from behind the counter and responded by hurling another pie at me. This time is was apple, damn it was good.

"Wow Pinkie, these are getting better and better." I complemented while licking my lips. Hm, tasted just like Applejack did. I just looked at AJ and she just smiled at me, my heart got all warm.

"So Cloud," I say breaking eye contact with Applejack. "How are you liking Ponyville so far?" Cloud was wiping his face off on his orange wing. That was a good idea, I followed suite and soon had a clean face and an apple covered wing.

"Oh hey Spark!" Cloud finally answered. "Free food and seeing old friends and meeting new people. It's not too bad." I nodded in reply

Dash say me and quickly looked away blushing a deep purple. Applejack saw this and went over to her.

"Hey Rainbow, I need to talk to ya'll" when both Dash and Cloud starting moving Applejack added in "Alone." Cloud froze. The girls went outside and left the three of us alone. Cloud reached into his saddlebag and pulled out some coins and placed them on the counter. "Thanks for the pies Pinkie. Hey Spark, want to go for a walk?" I nodded and headed out of the shop with him.

We headed west from town, mainly because neither one of us had ever been this way before and I needed to know the area.

"So Cloud" I ask him "How do you know Dash?"

He smiled a bit "Dash and I go way back, we met in flight school in Cloudsdale. We were friends for a while and even started dating."

"What happened then?" I ask him, figuring he was skipping some details.

His smile disappeared, "I hated flight school, I'm not sure what exactly it was, but it just got under my fur and I hated every second of it. One night I left a note for Dash and I ran away from home." I was surprised.

"Where'd you go?" I asked him

He just shrugged "I explored, I flew all across Equestria seeing all walks of life and sampled the best of the best of everything." I nodded as he finished, it didn't sound too bad. "Eventually I ended up in Canterlot and opened up a map shop."

"A map shop?" I asked him.

He smiled and continued "Yeah, I had been all over the place. So when I finally picked a place to settle I found an old house and made it my shop. I drew everything from pictures to maps. Business was pretty good, and I kept getting better and better. Eventually word spread around about my skill and one day Princess Celestia walks into my shop." I stop him

"Wow! A princess! What'd you do?" I asked

"I bowed and we started talking about maps and the like, I showed her my work, and eventually she invited me to the castle and offered me the position of Royal Cartographer. It was a dream come true, I handed the shop off to a friend of mine and moved into the castle. It was great, I got to do what I loved and never had to worry about making money. And somewhere along the way this little baby showed up." He gestured towards his cutie mark.

I lifted my wing to show where mine should be. "Yeah, hopefully I get one soon, people keep giving me strange looks."

"Don't worry about it dude! You'll get yours eventually." He said with a smile

"Yeah, I just hope its something cool, I mean what's worse than a la-" I was cut off by a scream coming from down the road.

"Cloud! Let's go!" I yelled and we took off towards the scream.

**So? Did I do well? Leave a review if you think so, or leave a review anyways! R&R Fav&Follow you know the drill.**

**Next chapter will maybe be up in the next 3 days so keep an eye out. No promises **


	9. Chapter 9

**I rallied last night and finished this chapter, I'm pretty happy with it. Make sure to leave a review or just PM me to let me know what you think of it. I can't get better unless I get some feedback. Make sure you Fav&Follow because I've got some great ideas coming up.**

**By the way, Freewing Alchemist, I'm eagerly awaiting your next review. It get's me pumped to write some more. That sounds weird...  
**

Cloud and I took off down the road. We ran so fast the forest around us became a giant green and brown blur. We only slowed when we lost track of the sound.

"I'll search high, you search low!" Cloud yelled as he took off into the sky. "Use this if you find them!" he dropped down what looked like a fat red stick, almost like a stick of dynamite with a black cap and long black string. I tucked it under my wing.

"Righty then." I said to myself while scanning the woods around me. I heard another scream coming from behind me, it sounded like Applejack. "Applejack! Where are you!" A loud crash come from where I was facing, I took off into the woods.

I ran through the trees and kept calling out for her. I came to a big clearing, I heard a crash and saw Applejack running towards me with Rainbow Dash slung over her back out cold. I ran towards them.

"Applejack! What's going on?" I practically yelled. She was out of breath. I took Rainbow Dash off of her back and put her on mine. "What happened to her?" I asked.

Applejack straightened up and looked me dead in the eyes and said one word "Manticore" She looked across the clearing "We aren't safe here, we need to move." And she started walking.

"Hold up a second, what's a manticore?" I asked her. "Iffin we don't get out of here right quick, you might just find out." I'll take her on her word. "Oh yeah, Cloud gave me this to use when I found you guys." I showed her the red stick thing. "Where did he get one of these?" AJ asked.

"Not sure, he just said use it." I replied. "Alright" she said back, "But get ready to move." She pulled the black string and aimed it up at the sky. It was like a fireworks display over Coney. The entire sky lit up with red sparks and fire. "If that doesn't get everypony's attention I don't know what will." Apple said while she moved across the field.

By the time we got to the other side Cloud had reached us. When he saw Dash across my back he panicked. "What the hell happened to her?"

"Manticore." I replied. He face grew pale. "Is it still around here?" Cloud said scanning the area.

"Probably is, and he's gonna be coming back with all that racket we just made with your fire stick." Cloud just shrugged, "let's get out of here" He said while taking Dash from me.

We all headed out of the clearing and started walking through the woods when I heard that crash again. This time it was just behind us. "Uhm guys?" I said loudly.

"What is it Spark? We're a little busy here." Cloud said while trying to keep Dash on his back.

"Guys!" I yell

"What?" they both yell back and turn to look at me.

"Run"

The Manticore, I assume that was it, caught up to us and was right on our tails. Applejack grabbed my hoof and pulled me in her direction, soon we were on the open road. We continued running, I looked back and didn't see anything chasing us so we slowed down.

"Guys, I need to get Dash out of here, she looks bad." Cloud said. I looked at her and saw some bright blood coming from the side of her head and from her side below her wing.

"Yeah man, get her out of here, I'll get Applejack and I somewhere safe." I told him.

"This is gonna be tough." Cloud said while setting Dash on the ground and then picking her up in his front hooves and slowly flying off. When he was just out of sight AJ and I began heading in the direction of where we thought town was. It wasn't going to be that easy. The manticore burst onto the road in front of us. Applejack quickly turned and ran, I was a deer in the headlights/

The manticore easily stood seven feet tall and looked like a lion, well sort of. It also had the wings of a bat and a scorpion's tail. And I thought the magic talking ponies was weird. We just sort of stared at each other. It just didn't seem real.

"Stop staring at him and RUN!" Applejack yelled

She didn't have to tell me twice, I took off. But can you really blame me for staring?

I don't think I've ever run so fast in my life, but looking back at my life, I haven't really done much running. In fact, I don't ever remember running before I came here. As I looked over my shoulder the manticore was catching up…and fast. I looked down the trail and hoped for something to slow it down with. Nothing. I saw Applejack running down the road in front of me. Even in our present situation, she had a certain seductive grace as she ran. She really is a beautiful po-

"Hey Spark!" I heard someone yell from above, I looked up to see Cloud carrying Dash right above us. Dash was awake. "You can fly remember?" She yelled.

"Oh yeah…" I mumbled as I was still running, "Hey I knew that!" I yelled back up at her.

She just rolled her eyes, "Sure you did!"

I quickly stretched out my wings and started flapping, slowly but surely I started picking up some speed and rising off the ground. I flew over Applejack, hooked my front hooves under her shoulders, and took off.

We were soon in the sky and ascending rapidly, I hovered next to Cloud and Dash.

"Fancy seeing you two up here." I said with a smirk. Dash leaned over and punched me

"Shut up…" she did not look happy.

I heard a roar and looked down to see the manticore spread its wings and slowly make its way towards us.

"Shit!" I blurted out. I had to think of something and quick. There was a nearby cloud so we went there. We all touched down and I threw AJ over Cloud's back.

"Hay! What in tarnation do ya'll think yer doin!" AJ asked rather angrily

"Yeah Spark, what are we doing?" Cloud asked.

"You." I gestured to all of them "Are staying here where you're hidden. "I" I reached back and pulled another firestick out of Cloud's saddlebag "Am going to deal with a certain flying lion." I dove down through the cloud before anyone could say anything.

The manticore was still rising toward me, but had gained some speed. I headed straight for him and aimed the firestick at its gaping roaring mouth. I was close enough for a big enough bang and so I pulled the black string but no bang.

I looked in my hoof to see that the string had just come out in my hoof and hadn't set the firestick off. "Great" I said under my breath. The manticore was just feet from me and slashed at me and hit it's mark and slashed a decent gash in my side. When I recovered from the attack the manticore was heading to finish me off. "Not today" I told myself

When it lunged with its claw I dipped and dodged until it went for a bite. I stuck the firestick out and the manticore bit it in half. I broke it off and watched as the stick ignited and the manticore burst into flames and dropped like a rock into the forest below. As I saw it fall I looked at the other half of the firestick in my hand and it suddenly exploded, sending me straight down, I saw Applejack and Dash yelling something at me while I fell. I'm not sure what happened next. I just felt really comfortable in the state of free fall. Everything just grew black and thought to myself. "This is it…I'm done."

"SPARK!" I heard a female voice yell

When I opened my eyes the sky was black, but there were lights everywhere. The ground below me was hard and rough, I smelt salt in the air and people clamoring and yelling. I looked around to see a crowd of people around me. Wait…people? I was back in Coney…I…was back in New York?

I saw a small girl in a thick jacket walk up and kneel next to me. She took my hand and started to whisper something.

"Spark…please wake up…." She sounded like Applejack

"You have to wake up…I never told you how that I loved you…" she said

I just squeezed her hand in mine and started to close my eyes. The last thing I saw was two guys in blue uniforms pushing through the crowd with another guy who was carrying a big red bag.

**Oooo...a twist. Like it? Love it? Let me know dammit! **

**Hope you enjoyed. I'm going to go play some BF3 and take a nap.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hope you enjoy this one everybody, I am sick and putting this one together was a little tough. PLEASE leave a review, it lets me know what I'm doing right and what I could be doing better.**

"Three…Two…One…CLEAR!" someone yelled

I felt a sharp pain in my chest and my eyes shot open. I was in some sort of brightly colored room with huge windows that went from floor to ceiling, which was high up and vaulted. The early morning sunlight poured through the windows. I was lying in a huge soft bed.

I went to run a hand through my hair but instead found my hoof again.

"Guess I'm still a pony" I said to myself. "Guess that was a dream." I was about to close my eyes and go back to sleep, but I saw the door on the other side of the room swing open and a large pony walked through. Not large like big, but tall and lean. She was all white, just like Rarity; she probably stood six or seven feet tall. She had both a horn and wings, both looked sort of…regal? The was wearing a diamond crown on top of her flowing mane of light blue, green, pink, and purple. She had a matching tale. She was wearing some sort of chest piece with a similar diamond. Her cutie mark was the sun.

"Oh good!" She announced "Good to see you awake Spark." She said with a smile.

Who was Spark? Oh right…I was. Wait, how did she know me?

"Um, hello to you too." I said back. "Not to be rude, but where am I? How did I get here? And who are you?"

She chuckled softly. "You, young pegasus, are in the Royal Castle in Canterlot, I brought you here after I stopped you from falling, and I am Princess Celestia, the ruler of all of Equestria."

Oh shit…I'm in the ruler of Equestria's bed. That's either very good…or very very…very bad.

"Well, can you tell me what happened?" I asked her.

"Of course, I was traveling over the forest near Ponyville with my sister, Princess Luna, and we say the fireworks display and went to investigate. When we arrived we saw you take down that manticore and the explosion that knocked you out. I saw you falling so I used my magic to catch you, Storm Cloud and your friends explained what had happened. I brought you here to recover."

"Thank you very much princess, but I really shouldn't overstay my welcome." I said while trying to get out of bed. All of a sudden as sharp pain hit me in the chest and I couldn't move.

I slowly pulled the blanket down and found that both my wings were bandaged down as well as my chest, there was an angry red blotch in the material.

"Don't move" she said with a motherly tone that instantly calmed me down. "I'm going to get the doctor." As soon as she turned and walked through the door I was up and out of bed. I didn't like feeling down and out. I tenderly walked about the room, and slowly undid the bandages around my wings and spread them out. Man they hurt, they didn't look broken, they just were a little stiff.

I decided against taking the bandage around my chest off because the angry red splotch had grown considerably. I headed over a window and looked out over Canterlot. Man, New York had nothing on this place, it was a sprawling metropolis with wide cobbled streets, parks, and respites. The NY city planner could learn a thing or two.

Then I suddenly caught my reflection in the glass of the window, about half of my face was bandaged up, I decided to risk it and took off the wrappings. It wasn't bad, I two fresh scars running parallel from below my right eye to the bridge of my snout. I almost looked like a badass. I smiled at the notion which caused some pain. Then I noticed something else in the reflection, it was like a black pony with bight all blue eyes with white pupils, a short horn and bug like wings, it looked like swiss cheese with holes and notches all over its legs, wings, and tail.

When I turned to look behind me I didn't see anything. I just shrugged it off as a post traumatic hallucinations or something.

Just then the door opened and Cloud walked in followed by Princess Celestia and a blue unicorn who was wearing a starch white jacket and levitating a red cloth bag behind him, I assumed that was the doctor.

"Spark!" Cloud called out as he ran over to me. "Glad to see that you're up and about." He pulled me into a hug which caused me to wince. "Oh, sorry." He said while he backed off.

Princess Celestia come up to me and reprimanded me "I thought I told you to stay in bed."

"I've just never been in Canterlot before, I just wanted to check out the view." I didn't know what else to say, I felt like I was being scolded like my foster mother used to.

The doctor came up and immediately went to work. He levitated me over the bed and slowly peeled off the bandage, what I saw made all the blood rush from my face. My entire side was stitched up and raw. The doctor seemed unfazed, which I will give him some major credit for. He bandaged me up and injected me with something for the pain.

"So Doc, any clue when I'm free to leave?" I asked while he was finishing up.

"Well, most of the damage is superficial, so hang around for a bit to make sure there isn't any major bleeding then you're free to go." He said with a smile. That surprised me, I thought I was going to have to stay for at least another day or so.

The doctor left and Cloud looked like he was about to say something but was cut off by the princess. "Storm Cloud, could you excuse us? I need to have a word with Spark." She said

"Uh, sure thing Princess." Cloud said on his way out, he closed the door behind him.

"What is it Princess?" I asked her while she was walking towards the window.

"Spark, you aren't from around here are you?" She asked.

How did she know? How much did she know? I had to play this carefully, if she found out I'm not really a pony she might throw me in jail, or kill me!

'Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you.' I heard the princess's voice. I looked at her, but she back was towards me.

No, she didn't say anything, I told myself.

'No, I didn't say anything Spark, I thought it.' The voice said again. I looked up to see Celestia facing me, her lips weren't moving but she was talking to me.

'I figured that you weren't a regular pony, very few souls would try to match up against a manticore unarmed' She said…or didn't say.

That's it, I'm losing my mind, I said aloud.

Celestia giggled, 'No, you mind is fine from what I can tell, and from what else I can tell is, that you aren't who you tell people you are. So why don't you tell me, who are you?' she thought to me.

"Got it, magical mind reading pony, why didn't I see that coming?" I said aloud. I didn't have much of a choice. I told her everything.

**Again, please leave a review, it really does help me out. Also Fav&Follow, and that jazz. **

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	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone! How are you doing? How am I doing? Why thank you for asking, I'm somewhere in the ball park of pink eye, the flu, and an ear infection. Haha, more time to write I guess. Hope you enjoy this chapter. It's some serious stuff right here. Make sure you leave a review, it really does show me that you care and gives me some valuable feedback. Also Fav&Follow if you haven't already. Now excuse me while I go make some videos.**

**UPDATE 10/12/12 - Holy Crap! A Simple Wish is up to 1.5k views! That may not seem like a lot but that's huge for me...not what she said. Please keep reading and DEFINITELY leave a REVIEW! The more views the better. Thank you everyone!**

As I finished telling my story, Celestia just nodded and smiled.

"You obviously have been through quite the ordeal then Mark." She said her motherly voice, no matter how much I heard her talk, she always put me at ease. For some strange reason her voice almost made all my suffering worth it.

"Yeah, that's one way to put it." I said looking out the nearby window at the evening sky, the sky was a crimson red and slowly setting over the mountains. It made me think back to when I'd color as a kid and I never could get the color of the sun just right, and when I looked at it now, it was just the right color.

"So what are you going to do with me?" I asked her.

She gave a soft chuckle "What do you mean?" She said calmly. "Aren't you going to send me back, or jail me or something?" I asked

"Not unless that is what you want." She said while slowly heading away from me. "Hell no" I replied quickly. "Then it is settled, just pretend we never had this talk." She started to walk out of the room.

I suddenly remembered Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"Wait Princess! What happened to Applejack and Rainbow Dash?" I asked panicked

She smiled softly "Applejack is fine, I sent her home three days ago, she refused to leave your side, at that point you were completely bandaged up, so she no idea that you're up and around, so I would suggest going to see her right away. She really does care for you." She finished. I nodded with a smile

Celestia continued "Rainbow is up and around, she was only knocked unconscious with a few scrapes and bruises, she should be in bed rest but knowing her she's probably up and about. Storm Cloud on the other hand." Clestia then magically open the door and Cloud fell in, it was pretty obvious that he tried to listen in. "Cloud, stayed here in Canterlot the whole time you were out."

The whole time? "How long was I out" I asked her.

"About six days." Cloud chimed in. Damn, that's a record for me, next time I should try a whole week.

"Okay, well we obviously have some catching up to do. Princess what's the fastest way to get back to Ponyville from here?" I asked

"Oh, probably this." She said with a smile. Before I could ask her what she meant her horn glowed a soft yellow and the world went white. When I looked again we were standing in the middle of Ponyville.

"No matter how many times she does that to me, I will never get used to it." Cloud said while rubbing his eyes.

"Okay, well I need to go see Applejack." I told him. He stopped me. "Whoa, won't she be a little freaked out by all of…this?" he says gesturing to my scars and bandages.

"You're probably right, okay, Rarity's it is. I'll see you later Cloud." I gingerly made my way to the tall white building that was the boutique.

I knocked twice and entered and found Rarity quietly singing to herself while sewing some material together. I walked up to her and said hi. She nearly jumped through the ceiling.

"Don't scare me like that sweetie, you nearly gave me a heart attack." She lightly slapped me on the shoulder. After she saw me wince in pain she quickly apologized. "Oh sweetie I'm so sorry, what can I do for you?" she asked with friendly smile.

"Well I need some clothing to cover up all…this." I said copying Cloud's gestures. "Maybe a hoodie or a coat or something." I added

"A hoodie would be marvelous, and I just got this brilliant white fabric!" she took off to work taking measurements, cutting fabric, and sewing it all together. Soon I was wearing a bright white hoodie with a long hood big enough to cover the scars on my cheek.

"This is perfect Rarity!" I said with excitement. "What do I owe you?"

"Oh just come back sometime and help with some chores and we'll call it even." She said with a smile. "Absolutely! Well I have an orange pony to visit, I'll see you later and thanks again!" I said while quickly making my way out of her store and off to Sweet Apple Acres.

[CLOUD'S POV]

Spark headed off towards Rarity's and I decided it was probably a good time to find Dash. There was no way she was going to be at her house, she hated being stuck in one place to long, half the time she didn't even sleep at home anyway.

I took to the skies and looked for any sign of a rainbow trail, or a sonic rainboom, or anything that screamed 'I am the best flier in all of Equestria!' Unfortunately, nothing of that nature showed up.

Finally I decided to wait at her house for her to show up. When I landed the front door was unlocked and I made my way inside. It was dimly lit but I was able to make out Dash's shape rolling around in her cloud bed on the far side of the house.

She noticed me standing there and quickly ducked her head under the cloud pillow. I walked to the right side of the bed.

"Hey Dash." I said softly. She didn't reply "Are you okay? Can I get you anything?" I asked softly again. She turned to me with big tearing eyes.

"Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me at flight school all alone? How come whenever I needed you, you were never there?" she was practically screaming at the end. I crawled into bed next to her and just held her and she cried.

"I'm so sorry Rainbow." I softly kissed her forehead and held her tightly. "I'm so sorry I left, I didn't know how much I hurt you, and I promise you, I'm not going anywhere."

She looked up with watery eyes. "You promise?" she said in almost a squeak.

"I promise." I told her and kissed her.

**So? Did I do good? You tell me. Leave a review! Please and Thank you. Also if you haven't started watching Forward Unto Dawn on youtube...you should go do that...RIGHT NOW. First two episodes are up. If you even know what Halo is you should watch it.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I got motivated and pumped this out today, despite being sick and microsoft word trying to sabotage me. I hope you enjoy! Because there is some BIG stuff going to happening soon...I'm so excited that I might start writing tonight...Screw you studying! Make sure to leave a review, it really shows me that you care and also shows me how I can improve. Also Fav&Follow and all that jazz. **

I left Rarity's with my new white hoodie that covered up my injuries quite nicely, I know Princess Celestia said that she was there for a couple days before she was sent home. But I didn't want to make her have to worry.

I soon arrived at Sweet Apple Acres in the middle of the afternoon and went right into the orchard fields, she was probably way behind on her work. She wasn't hard to find. I saw her carrying way too many baskets full of apples and decided to lend a hand, I flew off and hovered over her. Hopefully this time I won't get bucked into a tree.

When Applejack walked under me I reached down and grabbed two of the baskets off her back. She quickly looked up.

"Spark!" She squealed in excitement and jumped and grabbed onto me. I was at least six or seven feet off the ground so that was no easy feat. I couldn't hold all of us in the air in my weakened state so we crashed to the ground. That hurt, but I got no respite because soon I found myself in AJ's bear hug. That really hurt, sorta in a bad way, more so in a good way.

After a few seconds of tight hugging her eyes shot open and she looked up at me.

"What the hay are ya'll doin here and not in the hospital?" She asked rather pointedly.

I just flashed my best smile. "What can I say? I needed to see a certain pony." I told her while grabbing her and hugging her tightly. She crumpled into me and we lay there in a comfortable silence in the shade of a rather large apple tree. That is until an apple fell and hit me in the snout.

"Again with the face!" I muttered while rubbing my nose. Applejack looked up and sighed.

"I'm way behind in my work, I'm gonna hafta work darn near through the night to catch up." She said while standing up and placing her straw hat back on her head.

"Well what if I helped?" I asked her while I picked myself up slowly.

"Oh I couldn't ask you to do that, you're still hurt." She said while rubbing my cheek along my scar.

"I'm fine, just tell me what to do" I insisted.

"Alright well, when I buck the apples down, can ya bring them into the barn?" she asked.

"On it boss!" I said saluting her. I grabbed the baskets that were already full around us and flew or walked them into the barn. Soon the barn was filling up and before the sun even set we were done.

"Wow Spark, I don't think I could've done all that in two days, let alone one afternoon." She said while wiping her forehead.

"Well we make an awesome team." I told her and she blushed a little. "Now, how about some of that world famous cider you promised me oh so long ago?"

"Right this way!" She said with her head held high and led me to the house.

She went straight to what looked like a metal bar tap in the kitchen counter, put a mug under it and pulled a lever, pouring a slightly foggy amber liquid in. She offered it to me and I gladly accepted. I took a big gulp. It was quite possibly the greatest thing on the face on the planet…world…universe…where ever the hell I was.

"So wha'd ya think?" Apple asked with a waiting smile.

I handed the mug back. "Well I'm not sure, but I'd have to say that it was…freaking amazing!" I said while practically jumping off the ground.

"Yup, that's what I thought." AJ said with a smile. "Now if you want to wait around a while, the rest of my family should be arriving for dinner." Excellent, I was starving.

In a matter of hours the previously empty kitchen counters were filled with stacks of various apple related food, pastries, and other sweets. Oh this was going to be good.

The table was set and the spread was varied, I think I was probably drooling. Granny Smith was there, and so was Applebloom, but I still haven't seen Applejack's brother.

"Big Mac's out of town, he had to get us some supplies for the farm." Granny Smith told us. Worked for me, we dug in, I think I was on my third plate of everything when I suddenly felt very full and very tired.

I felt bad for making such a mess so I helped Applebloom clean up the kitchen and then made my way outside into the warm evening air. I found Applejack lying on top of a nearby hill, a piece of straw in her mouth, looking up at the clear sky full of stars. I couldn't take my eyes of her, I felt like a picture like this should be put on display in a museum, but they wouldn't get the same sensation that I was feeling right now. In the dim starlight I saw her cheeks redden slightly.

"Ya just gonna stand there all night starin'? Or are ya gonna come up here with me?" she said.

Crap, she caught me. I made my way up the hill and I lied down next to her. She leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder. Her hair was soft and her body was warm. I took my eyes off her and looked up into the sky. There were so many stars I didn't know where to look first. Then a few of them decided to streak across the sky.

"Make a wish." Applejack told me

I smiled to myself and thought back to that old fortune teller machine.

"Nah, I'm good right here." I told her and leaned my head onto her.

We sat out there under the stars for a couple minutes and watched the world turn for maybe an hour or two. Time didn't matter to us. Then I heard Applejack yawn and I realized how tired I was.

"Hey Apple, any chance I could crash here?" I asked her

She just gave me a sleepy smile. "The barn loft is open and full of fresh hay." She told me. It sounded good. "I'll take it." I told her.

I slowly picked myself up and when she stood up I picked up her chin and kissed her. We lingered and slowly her mouth opened and I felt her tongue gently prod my lips so I opened up and danced with her. There was no fierceness to it, just gently back and forth movement. I soon found myself running out of air but didn't want to break off ever. She pulled back first and just held herself close to me. We were both breathing rather heavily.

"Goodnight…" I muttered softly.

"Night." She said back barely audible. I watched as she headed slowly down the hill and into the house. I made my way down the other side of the hill and into the open barn. I climbed the steps into the loft and lied down in a large mountain of soft hay. I looked out of the open loft door and over the farm. This might sound sappy, but heaven should be called 'Sweet Apple Acres'.

I soon fell asleep but was woken in the night by the sound of hoof steps and someone laying down next to me. I opened my eyes to see Applejack lying down facing me, she was already asleep. I scooted closer and wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.

'Yeah, heaven can go screw itself' I thought while I drifted back to sleep.

I heard what sounded like an engine and sirens so I opened my eyes to see an ambulance pulling up to the boardwalk and those three guys from earlier lift me up on some sort of cart or bed and shove me into the ambulance and close the doors and speed off. I just closed my eyes.

**I really hope you guys and gals enjoyed this chapter. Keep your eyes open for the next chapter within the next couple of days. Review, Fav&Follow.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Still sick, still procrastinating, still writing. Just a warning, there will never be a "regular" uploading schedule...or any schedule at all. It's basically whenever I get the chapter done and to a presentable condition. Hope you enjoy. Like always, leave a review, or a puppy somewhere is going to be sad.**

**UPDATE 10/16/2012 - A Simple Wish has just hit 2k views...holy sh*t! Averaging ~100 views for the last 5 days. This is fantastic guys, please keep it up! Make sure to keep leaving reviews and the like, it really helps encourage others to read the story. Thanks so much everyone!**

My eyes shot open and my mind was racing, another of those weird dreams. I instantly calmed down when I saw the orange pony lying down next to me. She was still in a restful sleep so I decided not to disturb her.

I picked myself up and made my way to the open barn door and looked out over the farm like I did last night, it was early, the sun wasn't even up yet. I scanned the horizon but something caught my eye. There was that black pony with the blue eyes again, it was sitting in an apple tree. After staring for a couple seconds it took off with its bug like wings and soon disappeared from sight. Man, things were getting weird.

I let out a big yawn. "It's too early," I told myself "I'll worry about it later." I made my way back to the hay pile and lied down next to Applejack and dozed back to sleep, holding her tightly.

I don't know how long I was asleep but I was woken by the sound of some heavy hoof steps. When I opened my eyes and looked over to the steps I say a huge red stallion with a horse collar around his neck and large saddlebags on his back. I took it that this was AJ's brother. I rose up to introduced myself but when I did he dropped his saddlebags.

"Hi, I'm Spark." I introduced myself while brushing the straw out off of my white hoodie. He only snorted and hooved the ground like he was going to charge.

"Um…You must be Applejack's brother. It's nice to finally meet you." I said apprehensively. He took a few quick steps towards me.

"Uhhh…Applejack?" I called out to her. The stallion quickened his steps

"Applejack? A little help here?" I called out again, she only stirred slightly. He was almost to me going fast now.

"Applejack!" I yelled she picked her head up and looked just in time to see me get rammed into the mountain of hay. I managed to stumble out of the hay and soon saw the red stallion behind me starting to charge for me. I stretched out my wings and made a dash for the open door and took flight.

The red stallion was right behind me. He jumped out the door behind me and managed to sink his teeth into my hoodie. I wasn't strong enough to carry both of us and we plummeted. When we hit the ground my hoodie was ripped clean off of me. My wings hurt like hell and there was no way I could use them without excruciating pain and possibly hurting them more. I was grounded.

Big red made another run at me and since I figured there was no way of escaping him I just stood my ground. When he was closer I took a few quick steps towards him and lowered my shoulder and flipped him over myself. He went tumbling and took a few seconds to recover. He resumed his charge.

This time I ducked and rolled under his legs, tripping him up. This time he was down for a little longer. I took my chance and ran to him and gave him a quick punch…hoof…kick…whatever you want to call it. But that seemed to only piss him off. He went for my legs and soon had me on the ground next to him. I gave him a couple jabs and he did the same.

I could feel that my side had reopened and I knew I was losing the fight. I pushed all my legs into him and kicked off separating us and giving me a few precious moments to breathe. He was on his feet and moving towards me.

My eyes suddenly went to his horse collar. It had to be like a facemask in football right?

I used my wings for a little spring loaded boost and jumped over him and landed squarely on his back. I quickly grabbed both of the metal prongs and pushed it up his neck until it was at the base of his head. He tried to shake me but I was on him for good.

I took the prongs in my hoofs and pulled left and used all my force and fell off his back. My body weight was enough to swing the collar and pull him to the ground. While he was down I gave him a couple of jabs in the chest.

I stood back and looked down at my work, he wasn't out but he wasn't good. He straightened himself up and looked at me sternly.

"You'll do." He said solemnly. All of a sudden Applejack came running out of the barn yelling.

"Big Mac, what in the HAY did you go and do that fer?" she demanded to know.

"Had to know if he was any good, can't have a colt who can't defend himself or his family." He said slowly and calmly and trotted off into the barn, leaving Applejack and I standing there in dumbstruck silence.

"Guess I get your brother's seal of approval." I said with a chuckle while running my hoof through my mane. "Wait, approval for what?" I asked her

"Well, erm…ya see." She started nervously talking but cut herself off. "Oh sugarcube!"When I asked her what was wrong she just pointed to my side, the bandages were all bright red.

"Fantastic, which way to the hospital?" I asked while picking up the tattered remains of my hoodie.

[Cloud's POV]

The early morning sunlight came in through the open windows and gently woke me up. When I opened my eyes I looked about the cloud house and suddenly what happened last night came back to me.

I look down at the rainbow maned pony next to me and smile. I promised Dash I wouldn't leave her again. It was a pretty heat of the moment promise, but I still intended to keep it. I lied back down next to her and moved close to her and gave her a quick peck on the forehead.

She slowly opened her bright pink eyes and looking at me. I searched her face but she really wasn't showing any expressions, she just scooted herself a little closer and tucked her head and rested it on my chest.

We lay like this for almost an hour before her stomach let out a loud gurgle. She blushed a little and I started laughing.

"Alright, that's enough bed for now, how about we go scrounge up some breakfast?" I said while I picked myself up out of the cloud bed.

"Yeah, sounds good." She said while tossing the blanket off of herself.

"C'mon, I'll race you into Ponyville." I told her

"You are SO on!" She raced to the door and flung it open. Soon we were both up in the air and rocketing towards town.

[Spark's POV]

Applejack and I took our sweet time getting to the hospital. Not that we intentionally were lingering, but I just had to walk slowly to try and minimize any pain. All the while Applejack was being a little too careful, to the point of almost being annoying.

"Spark, you sure you don't want me to find something to carry you?" She would ask.

"No Applejack." I would reply

"What about if you wait here and I get the doctor's to come here?" She asked

"I'll be fine, let's just keep walking." I told her

"What if…" She started but I cut her off. "Apple, I'll be fine, trust me."

This kept going back and forth until we were just outside Ponyville. I saw floating book coming our way and a purple pony right behind it reading as she walked, it was Twilight.

"Hey Twilight!" I called, eager to break Applejack's constant harassment.

Twilight looked up from her book, "Oh hey Spark! Hi Applejack! How are you two doing?"

"I'm good" I told her but AJ quickly jumped in. "No you aren't, Spark's hurt and I'm taking him to the hospital." She said trying to push me along.

"Applejack calm down, it's not that bad." I tried to reassure her.

"Oh why yes it is mister." She replied.

Twilight jumped in. "I could help! I've been reading over this new spellbook and I learned a few healing spells. I'm sure one of them would help you out.

"That's okay Twi, I'm sure the doctors will do just fine." Applejack said trying to push me along. But I protested.

"Sure Twilight, try one of your spells." I told her and she quickly dove into her book and flipped pages until she let out a big "A-HA!"

She set the book down and her horn began to glow a darker purple and her eyes glowed white. Soon I was surrounded by a purple aura and then all of a sudden I felt very hot.

"Twilight what did you do!?" AJ yelled. "I'm not sure! Hold on I can fix this!" Twilight again flipped through her book.

"What are you two talking about? I feel fine." I said while raising my hoof. I was on fire, my whole body was engulfed in flames. I was about to panic but I noticed that the flames didn't hurt at all.

"Cool, I'm like the Human Torch…except that I'm a pony. Before I had a chance to experiment to see if I had any superpowers, Twilight casted another spell and I found myself blinded by a white flash.

When I could see again I was in the middle of a huge dark forest. I was surrounded by huge black trees and the swampy ground.

"Where the hell am I?" I yelled out

I was obviously in the middle of nowhere and I needed to get the hell out of here, I may have been brushing it off, but I was seriously hurt, and maybe encouraging Twilight wasn't the best idea.

I walked around until I noticed a gap in the canopy overhead and painfully and slowly flew up through it. What I found was a little disturbing. All I could see for miles was thick black forests.

"Oh boy, things can't get much worse than this." I said to myself. I heard a roar from behind me and cursed myself for saying that.

All of a sudden I was falling, my wings wouldn't flap and I was dropping like a rock. I hit a couple branches on my way down and was dazed pretty badly by one. When I hit the ground I was cut up pretty bad and the last thing I remember before closing my eyes was the buzzing sound of wings.

**Good? Yes?/No? Leave a Review and let me know. Fav&follow and all that JAZZ. Later...I need to start studying for my midterm...thats in 12 hours...crap**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sup! How's everybody doing? Good? Excellent, well here's the next chapter that took way to long to write, there may be some errors, if you find any major ones such as spelling or something of that nature, send me a PM with the problem and I'll try to fix it ASAP. Thanks.**

**And as always, Rate&Review Fav&Follow. ENJOY**

**UPDATE 10/21/12 - Unfortunately my health has taken a turn for the worse, and the school work is piling up. The next chapter is going to take a little longer to come out. Sorry about that.**

I was awoken by an interesting mixture of smells. It was something like, wood fire smoke mixed with fresh cut grass and some sort of spices, maybe cinnamon, I'm not sure, I was never a culinary expert.

When I opened my eyes I found myself lying in a hammock hanging in the rafters of a large round hut. There was a big boiling cauldron sitting atop a fire. There was a wispy trail of steam rising out of the pot.

"Ah, the young one is awake! Luck has shown itself without much quake." A female voice said. I knew that voice.

The zebra I had met in the market the other day walked out of the shadows and came right up to me. She prodded me in the side, I got ready for the pain but it never came. I looked down at my injured side, there was a thick bandage draped over it. She reached up and pulled it away revealing a raw looking patch of skin. I was healed.

"Wow, I guess I have you to thank." I told her.

"I may have sealed the wound under the knife, but it was not me who ended your strife." She said cryptically.

"Uh huh, sure, now what do I owe you? My soul?" I asked really hoping that it wouldn't come to that.

"Satisfied is the bill, but leave only when he comes to do his will." She said while pointing to a rather large bundle of colorful flowers on the counter opposite of the hammock.

"Uh, okay then, so what do I do until then?" I asked her. Just then a bright green flash was visible through the plank door. The door swung open and a light gray pony with bright blue eyes and a short bright blue mop of a mane and a medium length shaggy tail of the same color with a white streak through it. His cutie mark was a square mirror with a gold trim.

He walked over next to the zebra and just bobbed his head in my direction with an expression on his face that looked like he was asking a question.

The zebra just nodded her head and began to rhyme again.

"All in mends, under your tends, bring back to town you must, or it will be hard to earn his trust." She said while gesturing us to the door. I carefully stepped out of the hammock and walked out of the door. The other pony was right behind me.

"Ok, now what?" I asked her. She just smiled and slammed the door.

"Wait! I never got your name!" I yelled back inside. She cracked the door slightly and only said one word.

"Zecora." And she tossed me something that hit me right in the face. When I pulled it off I saw that it was my white hoodie, all repaired and improved with two handsome black racing stripes down the back, as well as slits for my wings.

"Nice." I said while slipping it over my head. I turned to the other pony.

"Now, who are you?" I asked. He just shrugged.

"Seriously? You have no idea?" I asked skeptically.

He just nodded. "What about a name?" I asked. He sat in thought for a second then scratched something in the dirt. I walked around to read it.

_DITTO_

"Well okay then Ditto, I'm Spark. Which way is Ponyville?" I asked, at least we were making some progress. Ditto looked at Zecora's hut then turned and pointed to a small path across from the hut.

"Alright, let's go." I said, Ditto nodded and we headed off through the forest.

We walked in silence for a while, the only sounds were our hoof steps and the eerie sounds of the forest around us.

Eventually I broke the silence.

"So you just found me and brought me to Zecora?" I asked. He just nodded.

"How did you find me?" I asked. He stopped and broke a branch off a nearby tree and hit the trunk a couple of times, I guess signaling he heard the sound of me crashing.

"Uh huh, well do you talk at all?" I asked. He just gave a slight shrug.

"Awesome, guess I never said thanks. So, thanks." I told him. He just gave me a big smile. However that smile faded and he perked up a bit like he was listening to something.

"What's up Ditto?" I asked, I didn't like this, the previously noisy forest became dead still. Not a sound could be heard.

Ditto crouched low and let out a growl almost. I don't know how describe it. Before I could ask again he grabbed me and pulled me into some thick bushes. When I figured out which way was up and peered up through the top of the shrub I saw what had set Ditto off. It was a swarm of those black bug-like ponies I had seen before. Hundreds of them all moving in one giant black cloud.

"Ditto, we need to not be here. Is there any way to get out of here unseen?" I asked while peering out of the bush in various directions. Ditto nodded and he led me out of the bush and through the forest off the path.

We were soon in a small clearing, well not really, more or less it was a break in the monotony in continues trees. It was a patch of purple grass, maybe a couple hundred square feet. More importantly there was a break in the canopy overhead.

"Hey Ditto, any chance we could just fly out of here?" I asked while stretching my wings a little. Ditto stood taller and listened around in various directions. He then gave me a big nod.

"Then hold on." I said. I hooked my hooves under his front legs and took off. I was feeling good, in fact I was feeling fantastic. I broke through the canopy and we were picking up speed heading away from the forest, Ditto giving me some turn by turn via some head nods and pointing.

Then suddenly Ditto froze and then quickly turned to me and pointed up fiercely. I didn't take time to ask. I climbed up above the cloud layer and landed, making sure to keep a good hold on Ditto. He didn't seem having any trouble walking on the clouds like I could. Up here it was actually a little sunny, we blended nicely with the clouds.

Before I could ask him if we were good a black bug pony stuck his head straight up through the clouds a few feet from us. He was facing the other way and looked like he couldn't see anything in the sunlight. He quickly ducked back down.

"Okay Ditto, let's be anywhere but here right now." I told him, he nodded and we took off.

It took us a while to find town, we tried to stay above the cloud layer as much as possible. When we did find the outskirts of Ponyville we broke down back under the clouds and voted to walk the rest of the way.

We touched down near some sort old farm, it wasn't Sweet Apple Acres like I had hoped but right now I really didn't care, we were safe. That is until I turned around and saw a cluster of black ponies flying right at us.

[Cloud's POV]

"What do you mean you don't know where they are!?" I yelled at Twilight and Applejack. Rainbow Dash and I had just finished breakfast at the diner in town when Twilight and Applejack burst in yelling.

"I thought I could help him, I may have misread the spell." Twilight said with an embarrassed smile.

"No buck!" I yelled at her. "He's hurt and Celestia knows where he might have ended up. We need to go find him."

"So what's the plan then?" Applejack asked.

"Twilight, do you have any idea where your spell might have sent him?" I asked while pulling a map of Equestria out of my saddlebag.

"I'm not sure, I caught a glimpse of a really dark forest and some sort of dark green lake or something like that." She said while rubbing her hoof on her chin.

"Oh come on Twilight! That could be anywhere!" Dash chimed in. "There's no way we can just go on that, try to think of an-"

"Here!" I cut her off. "It's a part of the Everfree forest, I've only ever flown over it though, it's virtually unexplored. We need to move now if we want any chance of finding him." I finished while packing up my map.

"Don't worry guys I have this." Twilight said. "I can just repeat the spell and get us there in no time." Her horn started glowing.

"No! Twilight do-" I tried to yell but it was too late. The purple aura shot out all over the diner and everything went black.

When I could finally see again I was in Rarity's boutique.

"Oh good darling! You're unfrozen." Rarity said while trotting over to me.

"Unfrozen?" I asked while stretching a bit, only to find myself constricted by a tight fitting silver tuxedo.

"Oh yes sweetie, you, Dashie, Twilight, and Applejack were all frozen for almost two whole days! Pinkie Pie and I found you in the diner and brought you back here, it was Pinkie's idea to dress you all up." She said with a soft chuckle.

My mouth was hanging open.

"Two whole days? Two whole days!?" I yelled

"Why yes sweetie, what's the rush?" she asked while straightening her hair.

"The rush, is that Twilight messed up a spell and sent a very injured Spark deep into the Everfree forest!" I finished telling her as I pulled the bowtie off from around my neck.

Rarity stood straight up. "I'll get the others up." She said and hurried over to Rainbow Dash who was wearing a short jacket, sunglasses, and short shorts. Rarity's horn glowed a light blue and a bucket of water levitated over and emptied itself on Dash.

She unfroze instantly, coughing and yelling. Next was Applejack, wearing overalls, suspenders, a bandana and her straw hat, and Twilight who was wearing what I could only call a sexy librarian's outfit.

Once we were all coherent, I filled them in to what happened, giving Twilight a few glares all the while. Just then Pinkie burst through the door, bounded off the far wall and started violently shaking up and down. Then she stood straight and her tail shot straight up.

"Uh, Pinkie? What are you doing?" Twilight asked.

"Pinkie sense tingling…something BIG is going to happen." She said while rushing to the window.

"Sugarcube that's ridiculous." Applejack said very surely. Just then there was huge thunder crack and a large lightning bolt. We all rushed to the windows just in time to see a large swarm of black bug ponies fly past us.

"Were those what I think they were?" Applejack asked, now very concerned.

"They can't be, not changelings, not here." Twilight said backing away from the window. I went over to Rarity's sofa and grabbed my saddlebags and goggles and slid them on.

"Cloud dear, where are you going?" Rarity asked taking a few steps towards me.

"Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling that if we follow those changelings, we'll find Spark." I said.

"What the buck are we waiting for then?" Rainbow Dash said while bolting for the door.

"Pinkie, can you go get Fluttershy and any others? We'll need all the help we can get." I asked Pinkie, she gave me a quick nod and cartwheeled out the door.

"This ought to be interesting." I said to myself while sliding my goggles over my eyes.

**Are you excited for next chapter? I sure as hell am! Now excuse me while I go play video games and watch the new Forward Until Dawn, go watch it if you haven't already. And who's excited for The new season of The Walking Dead? First episode was awesome!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello Everyone! No I am not better, still sick, week three and counting. No class tomorrow though so I get to sleep in. Joys of the little things. Anyways I came up with some great ideas for the story and got pumped up to write, hence why this one is my longest chapter yet coming in at almost 2.5k words. Please enjoy, and PLEASE leave a Review! It really does help me out and gets more people to read the story. Definitely a huge plus for everyone. More people reading = More motivation to write = more chapters. You do the math. So Fav&Follow and leave a Review. Enjoy!**

**UPDATE 11/1/12 - Sorry that the next chapter is taking soooooo long, haven't had much motivation to write, I'm sure my fellow writers can sympathize. Am working on it tonight and tomorrow because i don't have class *high five*, I've also been talking with another Author about co-writing a story which i will be hosting so keep an eye out for that. **

[Spark's POV]

Ditto and I saw the cloud of black ponies flying at us and before I could say anything Ditto grabbed my tail and pulled. He didn't have to tell me twice. We booked it for town. I felt like I had a strange sense of déjà vu, then I remembered the Manticore.

"Oh right, at least there aren't any of those around." I said aloud. Ditto just gave me a look. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a few of the lead ponies break into big toothy grins. They erupted into cones of green flames and suddenly there were about half a dozen manticores leading the swarm of ponies.

"Ditto! What the hell are these things?" I yelled. He just kept running. "Enough of this." I thought. I spread my wings and flew to Ditto, grabbed him, and bolted to town. Once we were over Ponyville Ditto pointed to a field meadow on the far side of town.

"What's down there?" I asked him while slowing down a bit. He just punched his one hoof into his other. "You sure?" I asked, but he just gave me a stern nod and a smirk. "Alright, time for a fight." I darted for the field.

When I touched down Ditto quickly broke out of my arms and turned and readied himself for the incoming swarm. They quickly approached from straight in front of us and started to fan out. They began to land all around us and soon it was two ponies surrounded my hundreds. For some reasons a song came into my head.

A year or so ago I managed to sneak into a symphony back in New York. I hid below the band section and just listened, I love music, all types. I think it was something by Mozart, Requiem or something like that. It came back vividly to me and it was oddly fitting in our current situation.

The black ponies slowly started edging closer to us, Ditto rushed forward a socked one in the snout and it crumpled. I turned and bucked one right in the chest, sending it right into another one of them. Ditto and I stood practically back to back, cracking out the blows. Luckily they were coming pretty slowly. Just as I was thinking that we might actually stand a chance they all started to jump in.

We were swarmed. I received a couple jabs in the chest as well as a few good kicks. I'm sure Ditto was getting the same. I heard some loud roars and some loud crunches; I hoped those weren't the manticores making a meal out of someone. I was shaken by my thoughts by a sharp pain in my neck. I thrashed wildly and broke loose from all the ponies. I bucked and jabbed wildly until I cleared a small circle around me.

I glanced down to notice a large red stain in my hoodie and followed the trail to a nice pair of holes in my neck. I didn't have time for this. While I had time I pulled my hood tight and tied it off hoping that it would hold until…well until the end I guess.

I looked around for Ditto but only saw a manticore with a white mane taking on a group of ponies and another manticore. It took a big swipe and took a couple ponies out and grabbed another manticore and slammed it into the ground before some black ponies jumped on its back. I was pulled back by getting tackled.

Before I could act a huge red explosion took out a whole side of the pony group and five shapes bolted through the red cloud coming at me. It was Cloud and some of the others. I saw Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack. Man, I was glad to see them, could've been under better circumstances though.

Cloud ran up to me and quickly lifted his goggles.

"I knew we'd find you here!" He said with a smile.

"Oh shut up, Ditto and I were doing fine." I told him while batting away another pony.

"Ditto? Who's Ditto?" Cloud asked while bucking two ponies into the sky for Dash to send flying in a rainbow blur. There was a green flash and Ditto landed roughly between us. I helped him up.

"Storm Cloud, this is Ditto, Ditto, This is Storm Cloud." I made the introductions while dodging a flying pony.

Ditto nodded at Cloud and jumped back into the fight.

"Huh, interesting character." Cloud said.

"Yeah, he doesn't talk much." I said while jabbing a pony in the throat. Just then a purple wall appeared and crashed into a group of ponies while a rather satisfied looking Twilight trotted by, horn aglow.

"Say Cloud, got any more of those firestick things?" I asked while holding a pony for Applejack to kick, she sent it flying. "Well yeah, what do you have in mind?" he asked with a smile.

"Give em here!" I said, he tossed me two. I grabbed Applejack and handed them to her. I picked her up and took to the sky. Once we were about 100 feet above the rumble below, Applejack held the two sticks up to me, I grabbed the two strings in between my teeth and pulled.

"Aim!" I yelled and AJ complied. "Hey Cloud! You might want to get behind something!" I yelled. Then both the firesticks went off, sending huge red fireballs at the ground. The right side of the circle of ponies was gone. When the cloud cleared I saw Cloud and the others under a purple glowing bubble. I landed and went over to them.

"That actually worked pretty well." Twilight said with a sign of relief.

"Wait, you weren't sure you could protect us?" Cloud asked

"Heh, well, you see…" Twilight rubbed the back of her neck.

"No time, here they come again." Dash said while landing next to me. The black ponies formed a solid line opposite from us and held their position. Just then Pinkie rolled in behind us riding a large blue cannon. She had one of those roll up noise makers in her mouth, when she came to a stop she gave it a strong blow.

"Uh, Pinkie dear? What are you doing?" Rarity asked with a concerned look.

"Hiya guys! I'm just riding the party cannon!" She gave the large cannon a pat and it went off showering the entire enemy line in colorful confetti and streamers.

"Well, that was helpful." Cloud said while rolling his eyes. Just then the ground began to shake and the black ponies began to break rank and run and fly away.

"What the hell is that?" I yelled while trying to keep a footing. Ditto came out of nowhere and stumbled in front of me.

When the rumbling stopped I turned to see a line of giant purple translucent bears. They gave a mighty roar at the retreating ponies. I was just about scared shitless until I saw who was riding on the lead bear's back.

Fluttershy slowly floated in front of the lead bear and gave it a gently scratch on the nose.

"Awww, thank you so much Mister Ursa! You were so helpful!" she said with her soft voice and then glided down to us. I think all our jaws were on the ground.

"Fluttershy, how are you friends with Ursa Majors?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, it's nothing really, I just helped them the other day with putting their baby to sleep. It was nothing." She said while hoofing the ground nervously.

"That was amazing!" Cloud let out it a shout of joy.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked while trying to take a headcount. I didn't see Rarity or Applejack. I panicked. "Applejack! Rarity! Where are you?" I yelled while looking all over the former battleground.

"Over here dear!" I heard Rarity yell. I looked over and saw here helping Applejack up off the ground. I ran over to them and gave Applejack a big hug.

"I'm so glad you're alright." I said softly to her. When I pulled away her eyes seemed to glow a little. I didn't really give it any attention. When I turned back to everyone one of the Ursas was looking at Ditto funny and smelling the air. When it leaned down to him and let out a low growl he ducked behind Fluttershy.

"I think that's all we need Mister Ursa, thank you for all your help." Fluttershy said softly while waving goodbye to the giant bears.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think that's enough of that for one day." Twilight said while making her horn glow a bright purple. There was a flash and suddenly all nine of us were standing a library.

"Where are we?" I asked while I rubbed my eyes.

"My house." Twilight said while opening several doors and looking inside. "I need to let the Princess know about this immediately. The changelings shouldn't be anywhere near here…A HA!" she pulled a wicker basket with a blanket over it out of a small room.

"So that's what those things were? Changelings?" I asked while eyeing up the basket.

"Yeah, they never come out of the deepest part of the Everfree, we need to find out why they were so eager to come out this time." Cloud said while pulling off his saddlebags and grabbing map after map out of them. Twilight took the blanket off the basket and inside was a little purple dragon.

"Uhh...Twilight, what do you want?" It said while turning over in its basket bed.

"Spike get up, we need to send a message to the Princess immediately. We were just attacked by changelings." Twilight said. Spike hopped out of bed and pulled a feather and a piece of paper out of his bed. "Ready!" he said, posed to write.

Twilight started dictating a message to him, but I was more concerned with Ditto. He was eyeing up Applejack.

"Whoa, dude, she's spoken for." I said with a chuckle. He just shook his head and looked at her even more closely. It was a little creepy.

"…your most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said finishing the letter. Spike rolled it up and blew fire over it, sending it away in a cloud of ash and green fire.

"Now we wait." Rainbow Dash said while settling into a beanbag chair. We didn't have to wait long, there was a bright white flash and the next thing I know, all of us, Spike included, were standing in Celestia's throne room.

"Princess!" Twilight said while quickly bowing, as well as all the other ponies. Ditto, Applejack, and I were the only ones still standing straight up. But AJ quickly bowed after she saw everyone else was bowing. I was still watching Ditto, he was looking closely at Applejack.

"There is no time for formalities my little ponies." Her motherly voice had a sense of panic. "Is this report accurate?" She said while levitating Twilight's letter in front of her. "Are the changelings back?"

"I'm afraid so Princess." Twilight said.

"Yeah but we sent them packing!" Rainbow Dash said while flexing her front legs.

"Swift Foot! Bronze Back!" Celestia called out. A white pegasus and a dark brown, almost black, unicorn ran to Celestia and stood at attention. They were dressed in full suits of gold colored armor. "I need you two to go find Shining Armor and tell him to cast the Canterlot protection spell immediately." The Princess commanded. Both ponies saluted and took off through the door.

"Princess, do you think that there are more of them? I mean more than what we just faced at Ponyville and even more than at the wedding?" Twilight asked fearfully.

"I'm afraid so, we need to take every precaution possible. They've been quiet since the wedding, something…" Celestia looked right at me. "…must have peaked their interest." My mind was racing, did I somehow cause this? I put people in danger, I couldn't let people get hurt because of me. I had to get away from everyone, maybe hide in forest.

My focus was drawn to Ditto. I saw him looking at Applejack again. This time he saw something he didn't like. His eyes went wide and he jumped at her and landed squarely on her.

"Ditto stop!" I yelled while running at them. He just cocked his hoof back and let it fly catching Applejack in the jaw. That was too far. I lowered my head and rammed him, sending him skidding across the floor. I turned to see Cloud and Pinkie helping Applejack up, a trail of dark almost black blood running down her cheek. I looked back to Ditto, he nodded and pointed to her flank. My eyes followed his gesture and I saw it. There was only one apple.

I walked over to her, gesturing Cloud and Pinkie away. "Applejack, are you okay?" She nodded slowly. "Can you feel everything? Anywhere hurt?" I asked and she nodded again.

"It's good that you can feel everything, because this is gonna hurt." I said, when she looked up at me I turned and bucked her, catching in the side of the face.

**BOOM! Cliffhanger! I know I suck for ending it like this but it was the best way to break up this section. Leave a Review! Fav&Follow! Goodnight/Day/afternoon/morning/evening...you take your pick!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I"M SORRY! This took way too long to write, I wanted a good long chapter to build up the drama a little. I really hope you like. **

**If you see any errors (Spelling, grammar, facts, etc.) please let me know! I may have missed things in editing. Please leave a review, it helps a ton! Fav&Follow and spread this story around like chicken pox at a daycare.**

**Update 12/12/12- God guys/gals, i haven't updated in like a month. I'm so sorry, Call it writes block but I just can't get the words out in a way that I like. I've maybe written a few chapters worth of crap, but I refuse to use that. I'm currently in Finals Week at school, so time isn't in abundance, but over the weekend i plan to get some solid work down and possibly start another story i've had in the works. Thanks ever so much for your patience.**

**Update 12/27/12- Good news! I started the next chapter and i actually like how it's taking off. So Sorry for the RIDICULOUSLY long wait, there's only two things standing between me and finishing this. My Brother just gave me Skyrim, and i'm currently formulating a completely original novel/story/book...whatever you want to call it.**

"Spark what the HELL are you doing?!" Storm Cloud yelled at me. Princess Celestia suddenly surrounded me in a golden aura and pinned me against the wall.

"Spark, I thought we could trust you, but seeing as how easily you just hurt one of your friends I'm beginning to question if we can." Celestia's motherly tone now was very threatening.

"Okay for one, I take offense at that." I said while struggling to get off of the wall. "And second, Ditto, will you show them please." Ditto nodded and started walking over to an unconscious Applejack. Cloud stepped between them.

"If you think I'm going to let either of you get near her…you have another thing coming." He said enraged.

"Cloud, you all need to see this." I said calmly, still against the wall. "Like hell." He snorted back. Ditto started moving closer, Cloud was about to jump him but Rainbow Dash stopped him.

"Cloud, I trust Spark, let him show us." She said to him, he started to turn and say something, but when he made eye contact with her and saw the tears beginning to form, he stopped. He took and a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

"Alright…but if either one of them does anything, I'm sending them out of a window." He said standing up straight. Celestia looked about the room, then at me and let me down roughly. I hit the floor hard.

"Thanks." I said sarcastically while rubbing my side. "Ditto." I said, he nodded and moved to Applejack, when he lifted a hoof towards her, Cloud tensed up and took a step closer, but Dash held him back. Ditto moved closer and pushed Applejack's tail out of the way, revealing her flank. He looked back to gauge a reaction. When everyone gave him a confused look he rolled his eyes and pointed at her flank. Twilight's hooves went immediately to her mouth as she let out a gasp.

"How could we have not have noticed!" She said downtrodden. She slowly walked to Applejack. Her horn began to glow and she shot a burst of purple light at her. There was no longer Applejack, just a black changeling.

The others gasped. Celestia called out for her guards. A half dozen armor clad ponies rushed into the room and quickly surrounded the changeling.

"Take it to the dungeon, an isolation cell. Make sure the mirrors are all in place as well." She commanded. The guards saluted and two unicorns levitated it above them and carried it out of the throne room.

"So if that was a changeling…" Rarity started.

"…where's the real Applejack?" Fluttershy finished.

I walked to the window and looked out and down over Canterlot and down the mountain and into the Everfree forest.

"She could be anywhere." I said, my mind was wandering back to when we kissed on the hill a few nights ago, I should've told her how I felt about her, now I might never get that chance. We need to find her.

"I know where she is." Cloud told us. I burst out.

"Then let's get moving!" I yelled heading for the door, but something stopped me. I turned to see Rainbow Dash holding onto my tail. Note to self, cut tail shorter.

"Spark, it's not that simple, where she is we can't just walk in." Cloud said while pulling a map out of his saddlebag and spreading it on the floor. He pointed to a black area in the middle of the Everfree Forest.

"She's somewhere in here, in the changelings' home." He finished.

"You mean we have to travel all the way there, fight an army of changelings, find Applejack, and then get the heck out of there." Rainbow Dash asked while floating in place. I looked around the room at everyone around me.

"Not we, just me." I said while grabbing the map off the ground and rolling it up.

"Whoa whoa whoa…you are NOT going alone!" Cloud yelled at me.

"Exactly!" Twilight chirped in. "Darn right!" Rainbow Dash added. "Yes darling, we simply can't let you go alone!" Rarity chimed. "Um…well…I want to come with you…if that's alright." Fluttershy mumbled out. It was Celestia's turn.

"Spark, I can't allow you to go alone." She said.

"You're right princess, Ditto is coming with me." I caught Ditto's look and he just gave me a stern nod and started walking towards the balcony.

"Okay, that's a start, who else is going?" Celestia asked, like I was going to risk anyone else.

"That's it, Ditto must know the area since he's the one who found me out there, and we have this map so that's all we need, right Ditto?" I ask loudly, Ditto just gave everyone a brief look over as if weighing his options, but then shook his head.

"What we need someone else?" I asked, Ditto pointed to Dash.

"Me?" Rainbow asked confused.

"No clue, but if Ditto says we need you, we need you." I said. I looked back at Ditto, "Why do we need her?" I asked. He pointed to her wings then went over to Cloud and reached into his saddlebags and pulls out a folded piece of paper.

"Hey! Put that back!" Cloud lunged for the paper but Ditto held it out of his reach and then handed it to me while holding Cloud off.

I took the paper and unfolded it, it was a faded flyer. I could clearly make out a picture of Rainbow Dash. The writing on the paper read:

_YESTERDAY AT THE YOUNG FLYER COMPETITION RAINBOW DASH WAS CROWNED 'BEST YOU FLYER' AND RECEIVED HIGH HONORS FROM OUR OWN PRINCESS CELESTIA AND THE WONDERBOLTS…_

"Oh I get it, Ditto knows that you're the best flyer around and figures we'll need you." I said handing the paper back to Cloud.

Rainbow Dash walked over to Cloud and he wouldn't look up at her.

"Cloud, is this why you came back to Ponyville?" She asked.

He let out a sigh and made eye contact with her. "I tried every day to forget what I did to you, eventually when I couldn't take it anymore I tried finding you, and I couldn't. I was away doing work for Celestia during the Young Flyer Competition, but when I saw this flyer I knew where you'd be. I finally cleared enough time to look for you, and here I am." He looked like he was going to say more, but Dash cut him off with a kiss on the cheek. He blushed.

"Alright guys, let's get a move on." Dash said.

"I promised you I wasn't leaving you and I'm not leaving now." Cloud said. "I'm coming with."

I looked to Ditto but he shook his head, "I'm sorry Cloud, but Ditto's in charge with this one." I told him. He looked like he was about to protest but Celestia put a hoof on his shoulder and he relented.

"Sorry to rob and ditch you Cloud, but do you have any more firesticks, those might come in handy." I asked. He emptied his saddlebags.

"Sorry, no." He said.

"Hmmm, I might be able to help" Celestia said while walking out of the throne room. "Follow me." We followed her to a huge gold paneled door that was blocked by five royal guards, they weren't in the typical gold armor, but a steel gray color. Their long horns jutted form their helmets. They didn't carry spears, but instead had two sheathed swords hanging off their sides and a large pointed shield hung across each one's back.

"Spark, these are the Inner Guard, the best of the best. They guard all the important rooms of the castle and guard VIP's during special events." Celestia told us. The guards didn't even look at us.

"Wait, why isn't my brother an Inner Guard then?" Twilight asked. Celestia gave a small chuckle.

"Who said he wasn't?" She said with a smile.

"Wait Celestia, you said all the important rooms were guarded by these guys." I asked her. "What room is this?"

The Princess gave a nod to the guards and they all turned and used their magic on five golden prongs protruding from the door. The door sunk back into its frame and retracted to the sides.

"Spark, this is the royal armory."

I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the ground. The room was huge, and filled with long shelves stacked with swords, spears, shields, armor, saddlebags, potions, ropes, medical supplies, stacks of paper, and everything you'd think would be in a "royal armory."

Before I could say a word, a sandy brown earth pony appeared from between the shelves. He had a dark brown mane and tail, he had a pair of green goggles on and a black bandana around his neck. He had a faded scar running across his snout. His cutie mark was a screwdriver and wrench. He walked over to me and lifted his goggles, revealing a pair a piercing green eyes, despite the pony's young age, his eyes looked like they've seen countless wars and conflicts. He reminded me of my buddy Mike back home, he was a war vet, he never mentioned it much. Mike had the same look in his eyes, that thousand yard stare, like he was looking at you, but also at something right behind you.

But with this pony there was something else in his eyes, brilliance maybe, intuition, perception, ingenuity, or just cunning, or maybe all of them. He gave me a look over and looked to the princess.

"This the guy?" He asked with a soft voice, a little aloof, but at the same time almost comforting, like one of the voices that makes you feel like everything is going to be alright.

Celestia nodded, "Spark, this is Rivet, he's our chief of supply and also a genius inventor, and a veteran of-" She was cut off my Rivet.

"That's enough princess, no need to flatter. Besides they aren't here for me, they're here for their mission." He said while looking over the group. "So who's going?" He asked. Dash, Ditto, and I stepped forward.

"Alright, so you're sending the outsider, the great flyer, and the mute. I know just what you need." Rivet said. He pushed his goggles back down over his eyes and turned to the shelves.

He pulled off a suit of the same steel colored armor that the inner guard were wearing and handed it to me.

"Had to put in a little work to make it wing compatible, but this should work nicely for you." He told me while browsing the shelves. He pulled a similar suit of armor off the shelf for Dash, her's looked to have been seriously lightened and the edges smoothed. "For aerodynamics." Rivet noted.

Finally he pulled off a dull bronze colored armor, and handed it to Ditto, when Ditto gave him a strange look Rivet commented. "Oh trust me, I know all about you, your secret's safe, this armor was worn by a unicorn friend of mine, bit of a shape shifter."

Ditto nodded empathetically and accepted the suit. He slid it over his body and strapped it down. I did the same, the armor was surprisingly comfortable and light.

"Next is helmets, we want something light and aerodynamic for the flyers, but not lacking in protection, and not too stifling. Ah here we go." Rivet said while pulling a dull steel colored helmet off of a peg. It forgot what exactly it was called, it sort of looked like a helmet worn by those 300 guys I always say movie posters for. It had a short dark gold brush strip of some material, feathers maybe, running along the top. Rainbow's helmet was similar to mine but without a snout piece and without the brush.

"This is just like my crystal jousting helmet!" Rainbow Dash yelled cheerfully. Ditto wasn't given a helmet.

"Rivet, won't Ditto need a helmet too?" I asked.

He let out a hardy laugh. "Trust me, he doesn't even need armor." Before I could question him further he just moved down the line, tossing us something called greaves that went on our legs.

By the time we reached the end of the aisle, we were the spitting image of armor clad warriors.

Rivet turned the corner and led us into the next aisle.

"Weapon time." He announced. He tossed Ditto a broad sword, Dash a long spear, and me a double headed axe.

"I can't take this." I told Rivet. "I don't kill." I set the axe on the shelf and looked around for a better alternative.

"Well you can't very well march into Everfree empty handed. Pick something." Rivet scolded. Alright, I'll humor him. Something caught my eye. It was a large pointed shield similar to those that the inner guards carried. The front of the shield was divided into four sections by a black cross. The sections alternated bright red and white. I took the shield off the wall and felt the weight of it.

I turned to Dash and Ditto and hefted the shield up.

"What do ya think?" I asked. Dash then lunged with her spear at full force and her blow just glanced off of the shield.

"That'll do." Dash said while floating down the aisle. I caught Cloud's glance he just gave me a shrug.

Lastly came gadgets, I grabbed a pair of saddlebags that had an emblem that resembled the shield I now carried on my back. I found a bin full of firesticks and loaded a saddlebag full of them. There was a small section with medical supplies so I grabbed some bandages. Finally I took Cloud's maps and a length of rope he had and stuffed them in my other bag. Dash and Ditto packed their bags full and we went back to Princess Celestia and the others.

"Wowie Zowie!" Pinkie exclaimed "You look all soldier-ific!"

"You look ready, but how do you feel?" Twilight asked.

"Well it really doesn't matter how I feel, we need to get Applejack back." I told her.

"Ummm….you look really…uh…fierce…" Fluttershy muttered while keeping her eyes averted.

"Oh do be careful darling, I couldn't bear to see you hurt." Rarity pleaded.

"I'll try my best. Now, I don't suppose that you could just teleport us there Princess?" I asked Celestia.

"Unfortunately not, but I can get you close. But before I do, you three will need these." She said while levitating a polished wooden box towards us. It opened slowly revealing three golden amulets with a large ruby in the center of each. Celestia explained. "These are a little thing Rivet and I developed for the Inner Guard for some of their more dangerous missions. Push the ruby in the center, and you are teleported into a special area of the Canterlot dungeon."

"Why the dungeon?" Dash asked

"Well, what if the amulet is taken by a foe, we wouldn't want them showing up in my throne room now would we?" She said with a motherly chuckle.

I slipped the amulet over my head and tucked it under my armor.

"Are you ready?" Celestia asked.

"You betcha!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Ditto nodded

"Ready." I told here.

"Alright, be warned that there is no telling what you may run into while you're out there. Be prepared for anything and everything." She warned.

Celestia raised her head high and her horn began to glow a soft gold. Soon all three of us were surrounded by a golden aura. The intensity of the light grew and grew until I was blinded by light and overtaken by a sense of falling.

[Cloud's POV]

Spark, Dash, and Ditto were surrounded by Celestia's magic and disappeared in a bright flash. When the light cleared the space was empty. I looked over the long shelves of armor, weapons, and gadgets. I turned to the group of ponies behind me and then to Celestia.

"You know we're going after them right?" I asked.

"Oh I counted on it." She said with a smile.

**So did I do good? Let me know what you think in a review! Fav&Follow and all that JAZZ. Have a lovely evening/day/afternoon/morning/end of the world. **


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